Water bill is flooded with earmarks

WASHINGTON — Dramatic increases in earmarks -- pet projects quietly slipped into spending bills -- figured prominently in Republican scandals that helped Democrats win control of Congress last year.

But with Democrats now in charge, the practice is still thriving.

A bill the Senate approved last week to authorize water projects contains 446 earmarks, and the House version has 692.

The Senate bill was the first to come before the chamber since it adopted new rules this year on the practice.

Those rules require earmarks' sponsors to be identified, ending the secret process in which lawmakers anonymously inserted projects into legislation. Taxpayer watchdogs hoped the new guidelines would curb enthusiasm for earmarks. And they thought Democrats' decision this year to pass a funding bill without earmarks signaled a dramatic shift.

If the water bill is a sign of things to come, the appetite for earmarks remains undiminished.

"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss," grumbled Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), an outspoken critic of pork-barrel spending.

Democrats appear to be relishing their majority status, which comes with the power to shape bills and attach special projects.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, which drafted the nearly $14-billion bill, directed about $1.4 billion of the funding to projects in her state.

"It's good to be queen," quipped Steve Ellis of the Washington-based watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense.

Boxer secured $25 million for revitalizing the Los Angeles River, more than double the amount Republicans had intended to put in their bill, which died in the last Congress. Boxer has said the project will transform the river from a "concrete eyesore into a beautiful asset."

The measure also includes millions of dollars for flood-protection projects in California, where aging levees may put the state at risk of a disaster like New Orleans.

Critics say Democrats, despite their election-year rhetoric, are now pursuing pet projects as vigorously as Republicans.

In the last decade, the amount of earmarked federal money has tripled. When Democrats came to power this year, President Bush challenged them to halve the number and amount of earmarks, from a record 13,496 worth $19 billion in fiscal 2005.

The Senate bill, with its 446 projects, has more earmarks than a version drafted last year when Republicans were in charge. That bill had 272.