The retirement of several titans of congressional appropriating hasn’t slowed down the Senate’s appetite for “congressionally directed spending” — better known as earmarks.
Under new management this year, the Senate Appropriations Committee has allocated nearly $7.6 billion worth of earmarks among over 3,700 separate line items tucked into their fiscal 2024 bills, a CQ Roll Call analysis found.
That’s just a hair under the $7.8 billion provided in the initial Senate versions last year — which is striking because of that total, $1.8 billion was for projects requested by a handful of senators who’ve since retired.
