Costly and Corrupt Earmarks Waste Taxpayer Resources

The most costly, corrupt, and inequitable practice in the history of Congress has once again been exposed in the 2026 Congressional Pig Book.  The 33rd edition of “the book Washington doesn’t want you to read” tracks the rise of earmarks to near-record levels of spending in the fourth year since members of Congress restored the practice in fiscal year (FY) 2022.

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) released the first Congressional Pig Book in 1991, based on the seven-point criteria developed in conjunction with the bipartisan Congressional Porkbusters Coalition.  The 2026 version exposes 8,595 earmarks, 4.5 percent more than the 8,222 in FY 2024, costing $24 billion, 5.7 percent more than the $22.7 billion in FY 2024.  Legislators failed to pass any of the 12 appropriations bills in FY 2025; therefore, FY 2026 earmarks are compared to FY 2024 earmarks.  The $24 billion in FY 2026 is the fourth highest total CAGW has tracked.  Since FY 1991, CAGW has identified 141,029 earmarks costing $484.3 billion.

The corruption and inequity of earmarks was on display once again in the 2026 Congressional Pig Book.  The 92 members of the House and Senate appropriations committees, making up only 17 percent of Congress, were responsible for 41.3 percent of the earmarks and 38.8 percent of the money.  The Senate Appropriations Committee had eight of the top 10 recipients by dollar amount.  As the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) explained regarding those making the case for earmarks, “The problem with all their arguments is:  the more powerful you are, the more likely it is you get the earmark in.  Therefore, it is a corrupt system.”

As usual, earmarks also benefited senators far more than representatives in FY 2026; only one of the top 20 and five of the top 50 recipients by dollar amount came from the House.  Senators requested 6,469 earmarks costing $13,765,034,979 compared to 5,024 earmarks costing $8,893,851,306 requested by representatives.  This means legislators in the upper chamber received 28.8 percent more of the earmarks and 54.8 percent more of the cost.

Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) claimed the most earmarks by value in FY 2026.  Her 96 earmarks cost $484,654,000, which is only 0.2 percent more than the legislator in second place, former Senate Leader and current Senate Appropriations Committee member Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who received 44 earmarks costing $483,718,000.

Three more senators rounded out the top five:  Senate Appropriations Committee member John Kennedy (R-La.), who received 66 earmarks costing $450,633,993; Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins (R-Maine), who received 159 earmarks costing $431,571,000; and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who received 50 earmarks costing $399,380,000.  These five legislators, constituting just 0.93 percent of the 535 members of Congress, together received $2,249,956,993, or 9.4 percent of the total cost of the FY 2026 earmarks.

Like the earmarks prior to the moratorium, states and territories with smaller populations got a disproportionate amount, especially if they had members on powerful committees.  Alaska ($444.55 per resident) again received the most pork per capita (dollars in earmarks relative to population), followed by Maine ($335.63 per resident), Guam ($332.86 per resident), South Dakota ($223.12 per resident), and West Virginia ($214.52 per resident).  In FY 2024, the top five were Alaska, Maine, Hawaii, the Northern Mariana Islands, and West Virginia, meaning three of the top five states in pork per capita remain the same.

The 33rd installment of CAGW’s exposé of pork-barrel spending includes $58,800,000 for the M1 Abrams upgrade program which is opposed by the Pentagon; $20,000,000 for improvements to the Hal Rogers Parkway in Kentucky by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.); $7,647,000 for 11 earmarks funding theaters requested by 10 members of Congress; $1,500,000 for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and $950,000 for two earmarks funding opera houses by Sen. Christopher Coons (D-Del.).

The high level of spending on earmarks is another indication that members of Congress have willfully ignored or forgotten why they were first subject to the moratorium.  The movement gained traction due to the tireless work of members of Congress who publicly shamed their colleagues; high-profile boondoggles like the Bridge to Nowhere; and a decade of scandals that resulted in jail terms for Reps. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-Calif.) and Bob Ney (R-Ohio) and lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

There is some hope for taxpayers.  Legislation to ban earmarks continues to be introduced in Congress.  This effort should gain traction once taxpayers have a chance to let their representatives and senators know what they think after absorbing the porky details of the 2026 Congressional Pig Book.