2026 Congressional Pig Book

INTRODUCTION

The 33rd edition of Citizens Against Government Waste’s (CAGW) Congressional Pig Book tracks the earmarks received by members of Congress in the fourth year since they restored the practice.

The 2026 Congressional Pig Book exposes 8,392 earmarks, 2.1 percent more than the 8,222 in fiscal year (FY) 2024, costing $23.7 billion, 4.4 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. Members of Congress had not passed the FY 2026 Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill at the time the earmark database was compiled.

The $23.7 billion in FY 2026 is the fourth highest total since CAGW released the first Pig Book in 1991, behind the $29 billion in 2006, $27.3 billion in 2005, and $26.1 billion in 2023. Since FY 1991, CAGW has identified 140,826 earmarks costing $484 billion.

After an 11-year moratorium, earmarks were revived for FY 2022. The revived earmarks, despite a futile attempt to cover them up by designating them as “Community Project Funding,” are similar to the old earmarks that were included in the appropriations bills passed by Congress during FYs 2008-2010, which required that the names of the members who received earmarks be listed in each bill. The rules are as follows: each member of the House of Representatives is allowed to request up to 15 projects (senators face no such limitation); requests are posted online; a list of projects funded is published when the subcommittee or committee marks up a bill; for-profit entities are not eligible; and members certify that they, their spouse, and their family have no financial interest in the project.

In order to receive funding, there must be “evidence of community support that were compelling factors” in deciding which projects to request. This limitation is prima facie absurd, since it includes every expenditure from building a weapons system to programs and projects funded by hundreds of agencies and programs that include community, development, economic, or similar words in their title. It also describes the normal system of requesting money from competitive grant programs. The projects that would be requested as earmarks were by their very nature not funded because the agencies rejected them based on statutory criteria established by Congress. As a result, the end product looked awfully similar to the old system used by members of Congress prior to the establishment of the earmark moratorium.

While CAGW exposed earmarks in the appropriations bills every year since the inception of the moratorium, the agreement succeeded in reducing the cost and number of the projects. Members of Congress passed the 12 appropriations bills in nine years during the moratorium, adding on average 192 earmarks costing $9.4 billion. In the nine years prior to the earmark moratorium, legislators on average added 9,542 earmarks costing $20.9 billion. Members of Congress have added on average 7,287 earmarks costing $22.9 billion in the four years since repealing the moratorium.

Earmarks continue to provide the most benefit to the most powerful legislators. In FY 2026, 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 usual, earmarks also benefited senators far more than representatives in FY 2026. Senators requested 6,299 earmarks costing $13,566,023,692 compared to 4,886 earmarks costing $8,648,072,276 requested by representatives. This means legislators in the upper chamber received 28.9 percent more of the earmarks and 56.9 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 64 earmarks costing $443,733,993; Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins (R-Maine), who received 156 earmarks costing $425,716,000; and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who received 49 earmarks costing $393,380,000. These five legislators, constituting just 0.93 percent of the 535 members of Congress, together received $2,231,201,993, or 9.4 percent of the total cost of the FY 2026 earmarks.

Only one of the top 20 and five of the top 50 recipients by dollar amount came from the House. House Appropriations Committee member Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) received 14 earmarks costing $250,050,000 (including the single largest earmark of any member of Congress), ranking 19th; House Appropriations Committee member Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.) received 15 earmarks costing $214,036,855, ranking 26th; Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) received 14 earmarks costing $193,459,581, ranking 36th; House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) received 10 earmarks costing $164,844,993, ranking 40th; and Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) received 13 earmarks costing $150,829,502, ranking 41st.

Democrats took substantially more advantage of earmarking than Republicans. There were 257 out of 258 Democrats, or 99.6 percent, who received 7,674 earmarks totaling $11,010,858,459. But there were only 196 of 271 Republicans, or 72.3 percent, who received 3,357 earmarks costing $10,880,431,867. Because multiple legislators often requested the same earmark, the combined individual totals exceeded the total number and dollar value of earmarks attributed to members of Congress in the bills.

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 ($532.12 per resident) again received the most pork per capita (dollars in earmarks relative to population), followed by Guam ($332.86 per resident), Maine ($331.49 per resident), South Dakota ($223.12 per resident), and West Virginia ($212.44 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.

While the inclusion of the names of members of Congress is helpful, more than one-third of the cost of the earmarks was added without any attribution. There were 110 such earmarks costing $8.3 billion, or 35 percent of the $23.7 billion total. Despite the House prohibition on earmarks in the Defense Appropriations Act, CAGW found 110 projects costing $8 billion for the Department of Defense (DOD), all added anonymously.

Members of Congress will argue that their standards differ from the earmark criteria used in the Pig Book, and that these projects do not count as earmarks according to their definition. However, the difference in the definition of earmarks between CAGW and Congress has existed since the first Pig Book in 1991.

Beyond the high percentage of anonymous earmarks, larger problems with transparency exist. The FY 2026 earmarks were again in omnibus bills containing thousands of pages, which were voted on with minimal time for review.

Moreover, the earmarks were in disparate sections of the 11 appropriations bills with varying degrees of legibility. To undertake this analysis, CAGW staff painstakingly created a searchable database, oftentimes entering by hand information that failed to accurately scan because of blurry, barely discernable text. The data released to the public makes a mockery of the searchable database delineated by the earmark guidelines. And rather than being in a single database, the individual members’ earmark requests reside only on their website.

The members of Congress who restored earmarks willfully ignored or forgot why this corrupt, inequitable, and costly practice was first subject to the moratorium. The movement gained traction due to the tireless work of members of Congress like then-Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.); 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.

Legislators often cite Congress’s Article I tax and spending power as justification for earmarking. As Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and then-Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), co-leaders of the Article I Project, wrote in 2017 in regard to earmarks, “Congress needs to assert its power of the purse, but not in this manner.” In the past, “earmarking was not the innocuous exercise of Congress’ constitutional spending power; it was the tool lobbyists and leadership used to compel members to vote for bills that their constituents – and sometimes their conscience – opposed.” Bringing back earmarks, they wrote, “would make our job harder, make Congress weaker and make federal power more centralized, less accountable and more corrupt.”

Those sentiments echo President James Monroe’s May 4, 1822 Special Message to Congress regarding its authority to spend money on internal improvements across the country: “It is, however, my opinion that the power should be confined to great national works only, since if it were unlimited it would be liable to abuse and might be productive of evil.”

The impact of earmarks was shown in a September 7, 2007, Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General (DOT OIG) report, which found 7,724, or 99 percent of the 7,760 projects for FY 2006 reviewed by the OIG worth $8 billion at three DOT agencies either failed to be “subject to the agencies’ normal review and planning process or bypassed the states’ normal planning and programming processes.” At the Federal Aviation Administration, nine of the 10 earmarked air traffic control tower replacement projects were low priority, and their funding caused a three-year delay in planning for higher priority projects. There were 16 projects out of 65 at the Federal Highway Administration that failed to meet the statutory requirements of the Interstate Maintenance Discretionary Program.

Reviewing the thousands of earmark requests for FY 2027 by appropriations committee staff will not only bypass the local review and approval process but also usurp the authority Congress provided to federal agencies and their employees, who are charged with deciding how to spend the 99 percent of discretionary spending that is not earmarked.

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 projects in the 2026 Congressional Pig Book Summary symbolize the most blatant examples of pork. As in previous years, all items in the Congressional Pig Book meet at least one of CAGW’s seven criteria, but most satisfy at least two:

• Requested by only one chamber of Congress;
• Not specifically authorized;
• Not competitively awarded;
• Not requested by the President;
• Greatly exceeds the President’s budget request or the previous year’s funding;
• Not the subject of congressional hearings; or,
• Serves only a local or special interest.

I. AGRICULTURE

Members of Congress have long used the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act to feed at the trough, and their appetite continued to grow in FY 2026. The number of earmarks increased by 24.3 percent, from 600 in FY 2024 to 746 in FY 2026, and the cost went up by 23.5 percent, from $753.4 million in FY 2024 to $930.8 million in FY 2026, the second highest percentage increase of any appropriations bill.

$10,907,029 for nine Rural Utilities Service (RUS) earmarks funding broadband expansion by 10 legislators, including $3,678,142 for the Oklahoma University Health Science Center by House Appropriations Committee member Stephanie Bice (R-Okla.) and $1,481,287 for two projects at Lamar State College Orange by Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas).

There is absolutely no reason to earmark a penny of broadband funding. In his testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology on March 31, 2022, then-Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr stated that, “$800 billion has been appropriated by Congress or budgeted by agencies for infrastructure programs over the past two years that could be used on efforts to bridge the digital divide.” He also estimated that one-tenth of that amount, or $80 billion, would be sufficient to connect all unserved areas of the country. A May 31, 2022, Government Accountability Office (GAO) report identified at least 133 broadband programs spread across 15 federal agencies. The report understandably called for improved alignment “to help address fragmentation and overlap.”

More than half of the $800 billion came from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which gave $350 billion to state and local governments for infrastructure, and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which contained $42.45 billion for the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s June 2025 Benefit of the Bargain guidance enabled states to reduce their requests to $22.5 billion.

RUS broadband programs are therefore redundant and should be eliminated, making the earmarks by the 10 broadband bandits especially egregious.

$9,650,000 for two earmarks for the Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center funding equipment and infrastructure modernization and facility repairs and improvements by Senate Appropriations Committee member John Boozman (R-Ark.). Sen. Boozman also added a $117,000 earmark for the center in FY 2023, bringing the two-year total to $9,767,000.

$4,000,000 for control of agricultural pests at the Pacific Regional Lab in Hilo, Hawaii by Senate Appropriations Committee member Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii.).

$1,900,000 for the University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc. for a veterinary diagnostic laboratory pathological waste incinerator by Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee member John Ossof (D-Ga.) and Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.).

$1,753,000 for two earmarks funding theaters: $1,588,000 for renovations at the Eugene O’Neill Memorial Theater Center by Senate Appropriations Committee member Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and $165,000 for facility improvements at the Shea Theater Arts Center, Inc. in Turners Falls (pop. 4,510) by Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.).

Apart from misusing an appropriations bill for agriculture-related programs to fund theaters, these entities should use their own funds for construction projects. In 2024, the Eugene O’Neill Memorial Theater Center boasted $9.6 million in total assets. The Shea Theater Arts Center had revenue of $348,793 in 2024, meaning the earmark is equal to 47 percent of its annual revenue.

$1,000,000 for Clemson University for Asian Longhorned Beetle eradication by Senate Appropriations Committee member Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

$300,000 for Texas A&M University for the Feral Hog Community Cooperative Management Program by House Appropriations Committee member Jake Ellzey (R-Texas).

II. COMMERCE, JUSTICE, SCIENCE

The FY 2026 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) Appropriations Act contained 1,479 earmarks, a 41.4 percent increase from the 1,046 earmarks in FY 2024. The cost of the earmarks climbed by 63.6 percent, from $1.1 billion in FY 2024 to $1.8 billion in FY 2026. This was the largest increase in cost of earmarks in the FY 2026 appropriations bills.

$537,978,926 for 650 earmarks funding the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) program, a 37.1 percent increase from the 474 earmarks in FY 2024, and a 53.7 percent increase in cost from the $350,008,000 contained in the FY 2024 CJS bill. The FY 2026 JAG projects represent 29.9 percent of the $1.8 billion in earmarks included in the FY 2026 CJS bill. The $537,978,926 is the most ever earmarked for the JAG program.

The JAG program has been around since 1988 in one form or another. In 2005, Congress merged several DOJ grant programs under the JAG umbrella. Unfortunately, the program gives away money with too much flexibility and no effective targeting strategy, along with weak oversight and few consequences for mismanagement of the funds. An October 15, 2010, GAO report found that JAGs “lack key attributes of successful performance assessment systems that GAO has previously identified, such as clarity, reliability, a linkage to strategic or programmatic goals, and objectivity and measurability of targets.”

The George W. Bush administration’s ExpectMore.gov described the Byrne grants as “a variety of potential local law enforcement activities rather than a clearly defined, specific or existing problem, interest, or need. … With program funds eligible to be used for multiple purposes, the Department of Justice cannot target the funds to high priority uses. There are no meaningful goals for the program. Performance measures are still under development. Grantees are not required to report on performance. As a result, it is difficult to determine what the program is accomplishing.”

It is not difficult to determine whether the earmarks are abusive and wasteful. Since FY 2001, members of Congress have added 3,612 earmarks for the JAG program costing $2.3 billion.

$401,406,387 for 437 earmarks for the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program, a 126 percent increase from the 311 earmarks in FY 2024, and a 62.3 percent increase from the $247,347,161 earmarked in FY 2024. The COPS earmarks equal 22.3 percent of the FY 2026 CJS bill. The COPS and JAG earmarks combined account for 52.2 percent of the total cost.

The COPS program provides grants, training, and technical assistance to local law enforcement. It was targeted for a $96 million reduction in President Trump’s FY 2019 Major Savings and Reforms, which stated that the program is “not well targeted to achieve public safety outcomes.” The Republican Study Committee’s (RSC) budgets from FYs 2018 through 2020 called for the elimination of funding for COPS, and CAGW’s Prime Cuts has also called for terminating the program.

In FY 2008, COPS received 680 earmarks requested by hundreds of members of Congress costing $245.2 million. The Office of Management and Budget’s 2008 Program Assessment Rating Tool gave the COPS program a “results not demonstrated” rating, which “indicates that a program has not been able to develop acceptable performance goals or collect data to determine whether it is performing,” noting that the COPS program’s “long-term goals have no timelines or specific targets.”

This subpar characterization of the program corresponded with a significant decline in earmarks with legislators abstaining from adding projects between FYs 2010 and 2017. However, earmarks for COPS have returned without any evidence that the problems identified in 2008 have been addressed. Since FY 1998, legislators have added 3,936 earmarks for COPS, costing taxpayers $3.9 billion.

$105,867,890 for 104 earmarks funding operations, research, and facilities at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a 7.2 percent increase from the 97 earmarks in FY 2024, and a 24.1 percent decrease from the $139,499,000 earmarked in the FY 2024 CJS bill.

The earmarks include $11,020,000 for eight earmarks funding projects in Alaska by Senate CJS Appropriations Subcommittee member Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska); $5,000,000 for the Gulf of Maine Ocean Observation System at the University of Maine by Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Sen. Angus King (I-Maine); and $2,000,000 for severe weather prediction enhancement at the University of South Alabama by Senate CJS Appropriations Subcommittee member Katie Britt (R-Ala.).

Since FY 2001, members of Congress have added 487 earmarks for NOAA, costing $2.3 billion.

$11,917,000 for nine earmarks supporting fishing industries, including $2,000,000 for an Alaskan seafood modernization initiative at the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation by Senate CJS Appropriations Subcommittee member Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska); $1,875,000 for the Fishing for the Future program at the Coonamessett Farm Foundation by Sens. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.); and $1,000,000 for a Mississippi oyster restoration and workforce program at the Mississippi Wildlife Fisheries Parks Marine Foundation by Senate Appropriations Committee member Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) and Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.).

According to NOAA, the U.S. fishing industry produced $319 billion in commercial and recreational sales in 2023. It can go fish and get by without the support of earmarks.

III. DEFENSE

The FY 2026 DOD Appropriations Act again included the most funding through earmarks, which has occurred each year since FY 1994. The number of earmarks declined by 10.3 percent from 107 in FY 2024 to 96 in FY 2026, but their cost increased by 5.3 percent from $7.6 billion in FY 2024 to $8 billion in FY 2026. The Pentagon’s earmarks constitute 33.8 percent of the $23.7 billion in earmarks in all 11 appropriations bills for FY 2026.

Legislators again did not add their names to any earmarks in the FY 2026 DOD Appropriations Act. It had 96 anonymous earmarks or 87.3 percent of the 110 anonymous earmarks spread across the FY 2026 appropriations bills.

$1,500,000,000 for 58 anonymous earmarks for health and disease research under the Defense Health Program (DHP), which is a 22.9 percent decrease in cost from the 54 earmarks worth $1,945,275,000 in FY 2024, and the fourth highest ever earmarked for the program. The amount earmarked in FY 2026 for the DHP represents 18.8 percent of the $8 billion in DOD earmarks.

A March 14, 2012, Washington Post article stated that DOD Comptroller Robert Hale proposed decreasing the Pentagon health budget in part by eliminating “one-time congressional adds,” which he said totaled $603.6 million in FY 2012 for the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program. That total has increased by 222.3 percent to $1.5 billion.

The late Sen. Tom Coburn’s (R-Okla.) November 2012 “The Department of Everything” report pointed out that the DOD disease earmarks mean that “fewer resources are available for DOD to address those specific health challenges facing members of the armed forces for which no other agencies are focused.” According to the report, in 2010 the Pentagon withheld more than $45 million for overhead related to earmarks, which means those funds were unavailable for national security needs or medical research specifically affecting those serving in the military.

On June 17, 2015, then-Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) suggested that funding for medical research should only be included in the DOD bill if the secretary of defense determined it was directly related to the military. He said that “over the past two decades, lawmakers have appropriated nearly $7.3 billion for medical research that was ‘totally unrelated’ to the military.”

In a response that explains why legislators continue to believe that they have the knowledge, privilege, and right to earmark billions of dollars for the DHP, Senate appropriator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) claimed that none of the secretaries of defense that he had known, despite being “talented individuals,” were qualified to decide whether any of this research is related to the military.

Since FY 1996, members of Congress have added 1,024 earmarks for the DHP, costing taxpayers $24.3 billion.

$357,500,000 for four earmarks funding industrial base analysis and sustainment support, including $150,000,000 for a high enthalpy air-breathing test; $72,500,000 supporting domestic hydrazine; $70,000,000 for the Civil Reserve Manufacturing Network using adaptive, advanced, or additive manufacturing; and $65,000,000 for nanoparticle iron nitride permanent magnets capex. No other information is provided as to where this research is taking place, or which legislator is responsible for adding the funding.

Earmarks should not be used to support unidentified local defense industries. They crowd out other defense spending, redirect from DOD priorities, and weaken national security.

$213,521,000 for two earmarks for the National Guard Counter-Drug Program, a 3.7 percent decrease from the $221,735,000 in FY 2024, and the second most ever earmarked for this program. Between FYs 2008-2010, earmarks went to individual states and congressional districts, but since then the program, which allows for the use of military personnel in domestic drug enforcement operations, has been funded in one bundle as a workaround to the earmark moratorium. Despite the transparency requirements for earmarks, there is still no information about where these funds are going or how they will be used.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, with a budget of $2.6 billion, is already responsible for these activities. Members of Congress who have inserted earmarks for the Counter-Drug Program in the past include Senate Appropriations Committee member Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), House Appropriations Committee member Harold Rogers (R-Ky.), the late former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), and the late Sens. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Ted Stevens (R-Alaska).

Since FY 2001, there have been 85 earmarks costing taxpayers $1.8 billion for the National Guard Counter-Drug Program.

$58,800,000 for the M1 Abrams upgrade program, an 88.7 percent reduction from the $518,300,000 in earmarks in FY 2024. Over the objections of senior DOD officials, members of Congress continue to earmark funds to upgrade M1s into the M1A2SEP variant.

The lower cost of earmarks may be due to the September 6, 2023, DOD announcement that it intends to move on from the M1A2SEP, based in part on lessons learned in the fighting in Ukraine. The Army intends to develop a new tank, which will integrate technologies designed to increase survivability and maneuverability. Rather than the Army and prime contractor General Dynamics agreeing on how to build every sensor and communications system for the M1E3 for its entire service life, the Army chose an open system that will integrate a variety of systems and software as needed in the future. As a result, the tank will begin to be fielded in 2026, with full rollout occurring within three years, well ahead of the initial timeline.

Although the M1 tank plant is in Lima, Ohio, its suppliers are spread across the country, which helps to explain why the Abrams Upgrade Program still exists, contrary to all evidence that it should be eliminated. Indeed, past versions of the DOD bills, including in FYs 2016 and 2017, hinted at a parochial incentive for the program’s continuance: industrial base support. There’s nothing like a jobs program disguised as a national security priority.

Unfortunately, the jobs program continues in FY 2026. In earmarking additional funding for the Abrams Upgrade Program, members of Congress have chosen to ignore the DOD’s positive progress in fielding a new tank. The earmarks will crowd out funding for the M1E3.

Since FY 1994, there have been 48 earmarks for the M1 Abrams, requested by at least 13 members of Congress, costing taxpayers $3 billion.

$53,000,000 for the Starbase Youth Program, the same amount earmarked in FY 2024 and equaling the largest ever earmark for the program. The Starbase Youth Program teaches science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) to at-risk youth in multiple locations at or near military bases around the country.

Since FY 2001, legislators have added 17 earmarks costing $428.1 million for Starbase, including an earmark worth $1.9 million in FY 2010 by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and then-Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.). But, like the National Guard Counter-Drug Program, there is no information about which members of Congress will be receiving the FY 2026 Starbase earmark money.

An April 2018 GAO annual report on program duplication, overlap, and fragmentation found that $2.9 billion was spent in FY 2016 across 13 agencies for 163 STEM programs. Former President Obama proposed the consolidation or elimination of 31 STEM programs in FY 2015, and a further 20 STEM programs in FY 2016. President Trump’s FY 2021 Major Savings and Reforms recommended eliminating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Office of STEM Engagement, saving $120 million.

Starbase should be next on the list of unnecessary STEM programs that should be terminated.

IV. ENERGY AND WATER

Legislators once again flooded the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act with pricey pork. While the number of earmarks declined by one, from 288 in FY 2024 to 287 in FY 2026, the cost went in the other direction, increasing by 9.5 percent, from $2.1 billion in FY 2024 to $2.3 billion in FY 2026. The increase in the cost of earmarks is the third highest in all of the FY 2026 appropriations bills.

$1,883,676,000 for 226 earmarks for the Army Corps of Engineers, a 4.1 percent increase from the 217 in FY 2024, and a 26.5 percent increase in cost from the $1,488,596,000 in FY 2024. President Trump’s FY 2018 Major Savings and Reforms recommended reducing the Corps of Engineers’ budget by $976 million. The FY 2021 version of his Major Savings and Reforms proposed reforming Army Corps of Engineers Inland Waterways Trust Fund financing by establishing an annual fee paid by commercial navigation users, saving $180 million annually. The report also recommended divesting the federal government of the Washington Aqueduct, which services Washington, D.C., and several Virginia suburbs, saving $118 million over five years.

The Army Corps of Engineers earmarks included $213,000,000 for the Chickamauga Lock on the Tennessee River by House Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.), the largest non-anonymous earmark in the FY 2026 appropriations bills. Rep. Fleischmann also earmarked $236.8 million for this project in FY 2024 for a two-year total of $449.8 million. The earmarks also included $190,000,000 for the Howard A. Hanson dam by Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.); $183,829,000 for the Montgomery Lock on the Ohio River by Sens. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and Dave McCormick (R-Pa.), House Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee member Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.) and Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) and $131,500,000 for the Morganza to the Gulf project by Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Committee Chairman John Kennedy (R-La.), Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), and Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.).

These four projects account for 38.1 percent of the $1,883,676,000 in Army Corps of Engineers earmarks.

Legislators have long treated the Army Corps of Engineers as a prime repository of pork, and it is among the most heavily earmarked areas of the federal budget. The earmarks in the FY 2026 bill and all other Energy and Water Development appropriations bills with earmarks since 2014 contravene the provisions of the Water Resources Development Act of 2014, which called for the exclusion of earmarks for any water projects, including the Army Corps of Engineers. Since FY 1996, members of Congress have added 7,792 earmarks for the Corps, costing taxpayers $22.7 billion.

$41,700,000 for two earmarks to combat underwater pests: $36,500,000 for the aquatic plant control program and $5,200,000 for aquatic nuisance control research.

The underwater pest earmarks increased by 78 percent from the $20.5 million earmarked in FY 2024.

Since FY 1994, there have been 31 earmarks worth a total of $244.1 million for aquatic plant control, meaning the amount provided in FY 2026 represents 15 percent of the total over the past 32 years. Legislators who have requested earmarks in the past for the aquatic plant control program include Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who requested three, and one each by then-Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.). The aquatic nuisance control research earmark is 66.5 percent less than the $15.5 million earmarked in FY 2024. Since FY 1992, members of Congress have added 14 earmarks for aquatic nuisance research, costing $104.6 million.

There is no indication as to which member of Congress will receive the FY 2026 funding to wage underwater pest warfare.

$1,000,000 for a fish passage project at the McKay Creek Reservoir Dam in Oregon by Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee member Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). Since FY 2000, members of Congress have added 27 earmarks costing $103.9 million for fish passage and fish screens.

V. FINANCIAL SERVICES

The number of earmarks in the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act declined by 11.3 percent, from 195 in FY 2024 to 173 in FY 2026. The cost of the projects decreased by 18.6 percent, from $187 million in FY 2024 to $152.2 million in FY 2026.

$106,939,000 for 132 earmarks for the Small Business Administration (SBA), an 8.3 percent decline from the 144 earmarks in FY 2024, and an 8.2 percent decrease in cost from the $116.5 million in FY 2024. Despite the decline, the FY 2026 amount is the third highest cost ever for SBA earmarks.

Since FY 1995 members of Congress have added 1,290 earmarks for the SBA, costing $1.1 billion.

$7,071,000 for nine earmarks funding drug control programs at the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), including $2,756,000 for a student assistance program in Rhode Island by Senate Financial Services Appropriations Subcommittee member Jack Reed (D-R.I.); $2,000,000 for a rural youth mental health and substance abuse program at the University of Mississippi by Senate Appropriations Committee member Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) and Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.); and $600,000 for a substance use mitigation project at Morgan County Partnership, Inc. by Sen. Jim Justice (R-W.Va.). Since FY 1996, members of Congress have added 50 earmarks for the ONDCP, costing $689.9 million.

President Richard Nixon kicked off the War on Drugs on June 18, 1971, declaring drug abuse to be “public enemy number one.”  Then-ONDCP Director Richard Kerlikowske acknowledged the failure of the War on Drugs in May 2010, stating, “In the grand scheme, it has not been successful. … Forty years later, the concern about drugs and drug problems is, if anything, magnified, intensified.”

In addition to interdiction, ONDCP has been responsible for ad campaigns, including the Reagan administration’s “Just Say No” campaign, the Bush administration’s National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign targeting teenage marijuana use, and similar campaigns initiated by the Trump administration targeting opioid abuse. Such ad campaigns are doomed to failure.  A December 2008 assessment found that the ONDCP’s anti-marijuana campaign may have had the opposite effect, stating, “more ad exposure predicted less intention to avoid marijuana use … and weaker antidrug social norms.”  A March 2015 report on 19 studies examining anti-drug media campaigns found that, while four campaigns provided some benefits, eight did not affect drug use or intended drug use, and two had the opposite result.

Piling earmarks on top of the more than $1 trillion spent to date is not the way to win the war on drugs.

VII. INTERIOR

The number of earmarks in the FY 2026 Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act grew by 11.4 percent, from 1,146 in FY 2024 to 1,277 in FY 2026. Earmarks in FY 2026 cost $1.7 billion, a 6.3 percent increase from the $1.6 billion in FY 2024.

$15,596,000 for 39 earmarks for the National Park Service’s Historic Preservation Fund (HPF), a 25 percent decline in earmarks from 52 in FY 2024, and a 60.5 percent drop in cost from $39.5 million in FY 2024. Since FY 2000, members of Congress have added 1,051 earmarks for the HPF, costing taxpayers $335.9 million.

The FY 2026 earmarks include $1,975,000 for five projects funding museums, including $500,000 for historic preservation of the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and $500,000 for the replacement of the Honolulu Museum of Art’s roof by Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii). The George Eastman Museum reported total assets of $54.4 million in 2020, and the Honolulu Museum of Art reported $122.1 million in total assets in 2024. Both museums are fully capable of functioning without the earmarks. Since FY 1991, legislators have added 1,485 earmarks for museums costing $1.7 billion dollars.

HPF earmarks also included $1,000,000 for two earmarks funding theaters: $500,000 for the Manhattan Theatre Club, Inc., for roof restoration at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and $500,000 for preservation and restoration of the Historic Strand Theater in Louisville, Mississippi by Senate Appropriations Committee member Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) and Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.). The Manhattan Theatre Club claimed total assets of $91 million in 2023, while the Strand Theater reported $2.1 million in total assets in FY 2024.

HPF earmarks also funded two opera houses: $500,000 for preservation of the Grand Opera House in Wilmington, Delaware and $450,000 for the Smyrna Clayton Heritage Association for renovation of the Smyrna Opera House by Senate Appropriations Committee member Christopher Coons (D-Del.). The Grand Opera House boasted total assets of $17.7 million in FY 2024, while the Smyrna Clayton Heritage Association had $2.8 million in total assets in FY 2025. Sen. Coons should explore new avenues to support his passion for opera (perhaps by direct donation), as opposed to making all federal taxpayers responsible. Since FY 1999, members of Congress have added 41 earmarks for opera houses around the country costing $12.2 million.

The HPF earmarks also included $461,000 for stormwater management improvements at the House of the Seven Gables by Sens. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). The historic home in Salem, Massachusetts claimed $2.3 million in total revenue in 2022.

VIII. LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION

The FY 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act (Labor/HHS) contained 989 earmarks, a 7.8 percent reduction from the 1,073 in FY 2024. The cost of the earmarks was $1.4 billion, the same as FY 2024. The cost of earmarks would have been higher but for the prohibition against Labor/HHS earmarks in the House, although two representatives, Greg Landsman (D-Ohio) and Carol Miller (R-W.Va.), circumvented this rule to receive two earmarks costing $6.3 million jointly with senators from their states.

$8,544,000 for seven earmarks funding museums, including $3,000,000 for the Hands On Children’s Museum in Olympia, Washington, by Senate Appropriations Committee member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and $2,500,000 for the Science Museum of Minnesota in Saint Paul by Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Tina Smith (D-Minn.).

In 2024, the Hands On Museum had its hands on total assets of $5.4 million and received more than 300,000 visitors, meaning it could have charged each person an additional $10 to lift the burden on federal taxpayers. The Science Museum of Minnesota boasted total assets of $119.4 million in FY 2023, and received 414,313 visitors in 2025. Instead of accepting an earmark from Minnesota’s Senate delegation, the museum might have charged each person an additional $6.03 to avoid sticking all federal taxpayers with the tab.

IX. MILITARY CONSTRUCTION

Legislators added 126 earmarks in the FY 2026 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (Military Construction), 11.9 percent less than the 143 in FY 2024. The cost of the earmarks decreased by 6.3 percent, from $1.6 billion in FY 2024 to $1.5 billion in FY 2026.

$147,000,000 for seven earmarks by Senate Military Construction Appropriations Subcommittee member Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

$59,400,000 for three earmarks by Senate Military Construction Appropriations Subcommittee member Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).

$54,350,000 for three earmarks by Senate Military Construction Appropriations Subcommittee member Deb Fischer (R-Neb.).

$50,000,000 each for earmarks by House Appropriations Committee member Jake Ellzey (R-Texas), Reps. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.), Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.), and Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), and Del. James Moylan (R-Guam).

XI. TRANSPORTATION, HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

The FY 2026 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) Appropriations Act contained 3,219 earmarks, a 5.9 percent decline from the 3,422 in FY 2024. The cost of earmarks decreased by 1.6 percent, from $6.1 billion in FY 2024 to $6 billion in FY 2026.

Nonetheless, for the third straight year, the THUD bill included the most earmarks of the 11 appropriations bills at the second highest cost.

$134,832,000 for 42 earmarks by Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins (R-Maine), including $1,150,000 for facility restoration at the Winter Harbor Historical Society, $580,000 for compliance upgrades at the Millinocket Historical Society, and $100,000 for the Brooks Historical Society for restoration of Pilley House in Brooks, Maine.

$117,650,000 for 16 earmarks by Senate Appropriations Committee member Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), including seven earmarks costing $36,850,000 to upgrade various airports in Kentucky, and $20,000,000 for improvements to the Hal Rogers Parkway.

Originally called the Daniel Boone Parkway, in 2003 state officials renamed the road for the far less famous Hal Rogers to honor the former House Appropriations Chairman for successfully securing $13 million in federal funding to eliminate tolls on the road. Now, 23 years later, a second Kentucky appropriator earmarked a further $20,000,000 to fix the road named after his colleague.

Restoring the tolls would have prevented taxpayers who will never drive on the road from paying for the improvements.

$107,147,000 for 46 earmarks by Senate THUD Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), including $7,993,000 for six earmarks upgrading airports in Mississippi and $1,000,000 for widening of Madison Avenue in Madison, Mississippi.

$103,945,000 for 61 earmarks by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), including $1,200,000 for the Metropolitan Airports Commission wildlife area boardwalk walking loop and $600,000 for sidewalk and trail improvements of Normandale Boulevard in Bloomington, Minnesota.

$97,600,000 for 11 earmarks by House THUD Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Steve Womack (R-Ark.), including $59,000,000 for the Springdale Northern Bypass on Arkansas Highway 412, the costliest earmark in the bill.

$20,477,000 for 17 earmarks by 23 members of Congress funding bike paths spread across 13 states, a 29.2 percent decrease in the number from 24 in FY 2024, and a 31.1 percent decline in cost from the $29.7 million earmarked in FY 2024.

The dollar total in FY 2026 is the third highest ever earmarked for bike paths. Since FY 1991, members of Congress have taken taxpayers for a ride by adding 181 earmarks costing $165.1 million for bike paths, meaning 12.4 percent of this total cost was earmarked in FY 2026.

$5,841,000 for four earmarks funding museums, including $2,611,000 for facilities reinvestment at the New Britain Museum of American Art by Senate THUD Appropriations Subcommittee member Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and $1,500,000 for an American with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessible entrance at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).

In FY 2024-2025, the New Britain Museum of American Art held total assets of $48.3 million, while the Metropolitan Museum of Art held net assets of $5.8 billion in 2025, a 7.4 percent increase from the $5.4 billion in 2024. The museum received New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission approval on April 23, 2026, for a $550 million privately funded expansion, including increased accessibility. The $1.5 million earmark equals 0.026 percent of the museum’s assets, so the Met can easily afford a door to avoid charging all taxpayers from across the country.

$3,650,000 for four earmarks funding theaters by the New York senators: $1,000,000 for ADA improvements at the Roundabout Theatre Company, Inc. by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate THUD Appropriations Ranking Member Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), and $1,000,000 to the Rochester Broadway Theatre League for ADA adjustments to the West Herr Performing Arts Center, $1,000,000 for the New York Shakespeare Festival for ADA improvements at the Public Theater, and $650,000 for the New York Center for Creativity and Dance for the Joyce Theater Foundation, all by Sen. Schumer. The New York Shakespeare Festival had assets of $128 million in FY 2024. Taxpayers should justly protest too much.

Citizens Against Government Waste Presents

Pig Book “Oinkers” of 2026

Recognizing Dogged Perseverance in the Mad Pursuit of Pork

The Whole Hog Award

to Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) for 96 earmarks costing $484,654,000, the highest amount received.

The House of Pork Award

to Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) for 14 earmarks costing $250,050,000, the most in the House of Representatives.

The Taxpayer’s Nightmare at the Museum Award

to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) for $1,500,000 for a new door at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, which held net assets of $5.8 billion in 2025.

The Taking Taxpayers for a Ride Award

to the 23 members of Congress who received 17 earmarks costing $20,477,000 to fund bike paths.

The Broadband Bandits Award

to the 10 members of Congress who received nine earmarks costing $10,907,029 to fund broadband projects despite the availability of enough money to connect every unserved and underserved area of the country.

The Singing a Sour Note for Taxpayers Award

to Sen. Christopher Coons (D-Del.) for two earmarks worth a combined $950,000 funding two opera houses.

The Closing the Curtain on Taxpayers Award

to the 10 members of Congress who received 11 earmarks costing $7,647,000 for local theaters.

The Paving the Road with Pork Award

to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for $20,000,000 for improvements to the Hal Rogers Parkway, named after a fellow Kentucky appropriator.

The Go Fish Award

to the nine members of Congress who received nine earmarks costing $11,917,000 supporting fishing industries, which had $319 billion in sales in 2023.

The Tanking the Taxpayers Award

to the anonymous member(s) of Congress who earmarked $58,800,000 to upgrade the obsolete M1 Abrams tank to the now-obsolete M1A2SEP version since the Pentagon already moved on to the new M1E3.