Earmarks in the defense bill? Really?

The Democrats are politicizing spending and sending pork back to their constituents? I thought they were supposed to be ending this sort of thing now that they're in power...

Earmarks in the House defense bill
The Crypt - The Politico

Check out the list of earmark requests in this year's defense spending bill.

Porkbusters.org posted this handy spreadsheet to track what requests are in the House bill that passed out of subcommittee yesterday.

Rep. C. W. Bill Young (R-Fla.), who chaired the subcommittee last year and previously chaired the full committee, tops the list with 59 projects. Rep. John P. Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat who chairs the subcommittee that oversees defense spending, came in second with 46.

In total, there are 1,776 special projects in the bill that was reported to the full committee -- a coincidental number that conservatives should have plenty of fun with ("It's a spending revolution ... " etc.).

Whatever your take on lawmaker-requested projects, this new era of disclosure sure gives everyone plenty of paper to pore over.