Earmarks down in FY 2010 spending bills

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- The 2010 spending bills had $10.2 billion in disclosed earmarks added by U.S. congressional members, down by about a third over 2008, an analysis indicates.

The non-partisan Taxpayers for Common Sense reported 9,297 sponsored pet projects were inserted in appropriation bills for 2010, compared to 11,282 reported for fiscal year 2009 ending Sept. 30, USA Today reported Wednesday.

The 2009 earmarks were worth $14.3 billion.

The funding bills also had billions of dollars in other programs not reported as earmarks, said Steve Ellis of Taxpayers for Common Sense. Ellis said his organization found $4.9 billion of undisclosed funding in last year's spending bills, but hasn't finished an analysis of the latest appropriation measures, USA Today said.

"At least in the disclosed earmarks, there has been a haircut," Ellis said. "Although we would like to see a much deeper reduction, it's a small step, a shuffle, in the right direction."

Citizens Against Government Waste, another budget watchdog group, said lawmakers aren't following rules about earmark sponsorship disclosure all of the time, citing a $2.5 billion expenditure in the Pentagon bill for building C-17 cargo planes. The earmark sponsor wasn't disclosed, but Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., said in a news release he worked to preserve the funding.