Waste of the Day: Earmarks Final Tally Nears $16 Billion
Topline: The 2026 federal budget contains $15.8 billion in earmark funding for 8,475 local projects in lawmakers’ home districts, but the money was not distributed equitably. Senators who are Republicans or have been in Congress for decades were far more likely to receive money than their colleagues.
Key facts: Senators filed their earmark requests in May 2025, but the majority were removed from the draft budget before it was signed into law this February. Those cuts were made partially along party lines. The average Republican senator got 47% of the money they asked for, while the average Democrat senator got 26%.
An analysis shows a significant relationship between a senator’s years of experience and their earmarking prowess. Senators who have been in Congress for many years were more likely to have their earmark requests signed into law, presumably because they hold more influence over their colleagues
That created a situation where Susan Collins — Maine’s Republican senator with 29 years of experience — got 90% of her earmark request signed into law. Meanwhile, Sen. Ben Ray Luján, a Democrat who has represented Hawaii for five years, received just 9% of the money he wanted.
In fact, only six senators received at least 67% of the earmark money they asked for. All of them are Republicans who have been in Congress for at least 10 years: Collins, John Thune, Thom Tillis, Lindsey Graham, Deb Fischer and Mitch McConnell.
Collins’ earmarks included $1 million to count how many lobsters are in the Gulf of Maine and $750,000 to digitize the records of a “cultural resource management consulting service.” McConnell secured $70 million for the University of Louisville, the largest earmark for any college. He’s an alum of Louisville and houses his congressional archive there.
Twelve of the top 15 earmark recipients in the Senate this year were Republicans
Democrats still took their fair share. No senator received more money than Patty Murray of Washington’s $484.7 million. Sen. Chris Van Hollen got $200,000 to make the sport of squash “more accessible” for Baltimore, and Sen. Cory Booker got $350,000 to refurbish a giant elephant statue.
Sen. Maggy Hassan was the only Democrat senator who did not request any earmarks, compared to the 27 Republicans who abstained.
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Summary: Taxpayers will spend billions this year on pet projects in lawmakers’ districts, largely subject to closed-door politicking by the political elite. It will likely continue until Congress restores the ban on earmarks that lasted from 2011 to 2021.
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