Conservative group's 'Pig Book' reports earmarks fell 10 percent in past year

Congressional earmarks fell over 10 percent in the last year, a fiscally conservative watchdog group said Wednesday.

Citizens Against Government Waste highlighted $16.5 billion in earmarks over the last fiscal year in its annual "Pig Book" released on Wednesday, but also said earmarks fell by 10 percent.

The Pig Book notes that there were over 9,100 earmarked projects in the past year, a decline in the overall number of projects and overall costs over the past two years.

"There's a little bit of good news for taxpayers," the group's president, Thomas A. Schatz, said in a press conference off the Capitol. "While it's good news, it's still above the historical average."

Schatz said the top two earmarkers in the House and the Senate were Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.), who brought in $148.4 million in the last year, and Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), whom Schatz called "Thad the Impaler" for bringing in $490 million in earmarks over the last year. 

Cochran is the senior Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee.

This year's report is released against a backdrop of renewed congressional action on earmarks. House Democrats adopted an indefinite ban on earmarks to for-profit entities earlier this year, while House Republicans adopted a one-year ban on all earmarks. It's not clear how those voluntary rules will affect next year's calculations for the Pig Book.

Both parties in the Senate have been more reluctant to ban the practice than their House counterparts, with even a number of conservative Republicans refusing to support a moratorium.

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), a longtime foe of earmarks, refused to chide colleagues who took in large amounts of earmarks, but said that he would work to advance his proposed earmark ban by helping to elect conservative candidates through his Senate Conservatives Fund.

"We've got 25," he said, referencing the GOP votes he has for his ban.

"I'm going to work on building the number against earmarks," he said, pointing to his support for candidates like former state House Speaker Marco Rubio in Florida's GOP Senate primary.

Also on hand for the press conference were Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Republican Study Committee Chairman Tom Price (Ga.), and Reps. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) and Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.).

See this year's Pig Book here.