Mother Nature's Helpers

While the “bridge to nowhere” in Alaska is probably the most famous earmark of recent years, Congress’s latest half-trillion-dollar omnibus spending bill set a new record for lawmaker largess—some 9,000 earmarks slipped through with little scrutiny.

a. $1,540,000 for an Appalachian Fruit Lab                      1. Senator Dick Durbin

b. $223,000 for beaver management                                    2. Senator Elizabeth Dole

c. $234,000 for olive-fruit-fly research                                3. Senator Robert Byrd

d. $244,000 for bee research                                                 4. Senators Mike Crapo and Larry Craig

e. $185,000 for asparagus technology and production   5. Senator Harry Reid

f. $1,125,000 for Mormon-cricket research                        6. Congressman Mike Thompson

g. $113,000 for rodent control                                                7. Senator Ted Stevens

h. $1,094,000 for rainbow-trout assistance                       8. Senator Saxby Chambliss

i. $353,000 to study the Asian long-horned beetle           9. Congressman Chet Edwards

j. $132,000 for peanut research                                           10. Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray

Answers: 1-i; 2-b; 3-a; 4-h; 5-f; 6-c; 7-g; 8-j; 9-d; 10-e

This article can be found in the February 2008 issue of The Washingtonian.