McCain never requested earmarks

So far, McCain got my vote over big spenders Clinton and Obama.

Clinton tops 2008 rivals, gets $530M in earmarks
By Alexander Bolton
Posted: 11/09/07 08:41 PM [ET]
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) has won tens of millions of dollars more in federal earmarks this year than her rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination, even though two of them have significantly more Senate seniority.

A review of the first three appropriations conference reports finished by Senate and House negotiators shows that Clinton has successfully requested at least $530 million worth of projects.

Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), Clintonâ??s chief rival for the nomination, has so far won $40.6 million in earmarked funds for his constituents, despite the fact that his home-state colleague and booster, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), sits on the Appropriations Committee.

Clintonâ??s greater haul of federal funds may be due partly to her four more years of Senate seniority than Obama. But seniority is only part of it.

Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), who is also running for president and first won election to the Senate in 1972, garnered $67 million worth of projects.

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), who came to the Senate in 1981, helped place $100 million worth of earmarks in the three spending bills that have emerged from House-Senate negotiations.

Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the lone Republican presidential candidate in the Senate, did not win a single earmark in the spending bills. He has chosen instead to position himself on the hustings as a leading critic of excessive government spending.

â??He has never requested an earmark,â?� said McCain spokeswoman Melissa Shuffield.

Clinton has seized funds at an impressive rate by knowing what she wants and working methodically to reach her goal, which is the way she is reputed to work on almost everything.

Most of Clintonâ??s project money came in legislation funding military construction and the Department of Veterans Affairs. A list of earmarks included in the conference report attributed nine projects worth $348 million to the collective efforts of Clinton, her home-state colleague Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and President Bush. Clinton and Schumer won another four earmarks worth $30 million by working with New York House lawmakers.

Clinton helped place 59 projects worth $130 million in the defense bill, the largest of the annual spending bills. Obama won nine projects worth $34 million in that bill. Dodd helped garner 27 earmarks worth $70 million; Biden requested 17 worth $36 million.

Clintonâ??s position on the Senate Armed Services Committee helps in steering defense funds to her home state.

â??Sheâ??s a member of the Armed Services Committee, and that carries a lot of weight,â?� said Faiz Shakir, who once handled veteransâ?? issues for then-Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.).

â??Her staff is very efficient,â?� Shakir said. â??Theyâ??re on top of the legislative process a lot more than even the staffs of more senior members of the committee.

â??On top of that, they know what they want; they are knowledgeable about the process and get requests in early, and I think that has a lot to do with it.â?�

Shakir became familiar with Clintonâ??s staff while working in the Senate. He is now research director at the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank.

John Podesta, president of the Center for American Progress, is helping with Clintonâ??s campaign, though the think tank itself is neutral, said Shakir.

While Clintonâ??s position on the authorizing committee of jurisdiction helped her win money in the defense and military construction bills, Obama did not derive as much of an advantage from his seat on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

Obama successfully requested eight projects worth $2.9 million in the Labor-Health and Human Services spending bill. Clinton, who ranks immediately ahead of Obama on that panel, won 54 projects worth more than $22.6 million.

Dodd, the second-ranking Democrat on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, helped slot 12 projects worth $4.3 million in the labor and health spending bill, the largest non-defense spending bill Congress passes annually.

Biden collected six projects worth about $1.7 million.

Clinton worked closely with Schumer on her appropriations requests. Every project except one attributed to Clinton in the three conference reports was also attributed to Schumer. She was the lead sponsor of 19 projects bearing her name in the labor bill. He was lead sponsor of six projects also attributed to Clinton.

Clinton, Dodd, Biden and Obama also sponsored two projects worth a combined $57 million in the bill. These were left out of The Hillâ??s tally because they had more than 40 Senate co-sponsors each.

its not that mccain never requested earmarks, but didnt request any last year. you have to spend time in washington and actually work on legislation to ask for them. so saying mccain never asked for any is an untrue staement. c'mon hes a politician what knid of politician dont waste mony on something. its a prerequisit for the job.

Earmarks aren't asked for.....that's the beauty of them. They just slip the shit into another bill and let it ride. McCain hasn't ever requested or had any earmarks. Hell, how long has Obama been in compared to McCain? If ANY of the candidates has had numerous chances it's been McCain. Years of service/ years of opportunity.

Have a good one!:s4:

i notice this article does not mention the fact that 4 of the top 5 money wasters were republicans.cochran,stevens,shelby, and byrd. also the 530 mil hilary requested was for her entire term. this year figures out like this:

hilary 281 projects totaling 296.2 mil

the top goes to
cochran (a repubuplican) 245 projects totlling 892.2 mill

these are requested projects wich does not mean they got the money