Unfettered by potential challenges to his position after deciding to step aside, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has returned to the earmarking game with gusto, taking over the top slot in his chamber with almost a half-billion dollars set aside for Kentuckians in the fiscal 2025 spending bills.
McConnell joins three first-time earmarkers on the Republican side — Indiana’s Todd Young, Kansas’ Roger Marshall and North Carolina’s Ted Budd — to push the number of GOP senators seeking home-state projects to 21, the highest since earmarks’ return three years ago. They join all Democrats — except for Montana’s in-cycle Jon Tester and New Hampshire’s Maggie Hassan — plus the four independents who get committee assignments from, or caucus with, the majority.
So far, across the eight earmarked bills Senate appropriators have voted out of committee — the Homeland Security measure hasn’t yet been released — there are 3,686 projects worth $7.74 billion. While Democrats and affiliated independents dominate the number of projects, the majority has been charitable with the money, allowing Republicans to claim 46 percent of the earmarked dollars.
