Ex-lawmakers' earmarks turn up in budget

WASHINGTON, March 5 (UPI) -- The $410 billion bill that would keep the U.S. government running has millions of dollars slated for pet projects for former lawmakers, a review indicates.

Among the former lawmakers' earmarks included in the measure that would keep government operational until the end of the current fiscal year are seven projects worth $1.2 million for Rick Renzi, a former Republican congressman indicted last year on charges in an Arizona land deal, USA Today reported Thursday. It also includes $1 million in projects sought by former Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, arrested in 2007 as part of a sex sting.

Among former congressional Democrats, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis sought $2.5 million in projects when she was a representative from California.

"These projects have a life after political death," said Steve Ellis, vice president of the Taxpayers for Common Sense, which offered the data for the USA Today analysis. "The concern that we would have is that their constituents don't really have a way to hold them accountable anymore."

Former lawmakers requested 459 projects in the bill, the analysis indicated.

U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee spokeswoman Kirstin Brost told USA Today it didn't make sense to pull the requests simply because there was a new member of Congress.

"If something was in the public interest a few months ago," she said, "there is no reason to believe it won't still be in the public interest today."