Top 10 senators seeking earmarks

The omnibus spending bill died Thursday in the Senate amid controversy over the practice of earmarking, or inserting funding for pet projects into legislation. Here are the senators who sought the most spending for their states, ranked by the monetary value of proposed earmarks, whether alone or with others.

9. Jay Rockefeller (D) of West Virginia

Newscom/File

Number of earmarks: 99

Amount requested: $200.7 million

Many of Senator Rockefeller’s requests pertained to modernizing and digitizing records at the Defense Department, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and other computer-sector programs such as digital forensics at West Virginia educational institutions. He also requested $5 million for his state’s local programs from the Department of Homeland Security, specifically FEMA. Requests ranging from $1.5 million to $13 million were for military construction, from maintenance shops and parachute rigging facilities to upgrading aspects of Army National Guard facilities in the state.

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