Transportation bills are a favorite place for lawmakers to snag federal funds for their constituents back home, also referred to as earmarks or pork. Each year earmarks chew up a larger and larger portion of the money the federal government spends on transportation, taking decision-making control away from local and state governments who are forced to use these funds for the specified project, or not at all.

In recent years, the number of earmarks in the transportation bill has skyrocketed. The House version of the failed 2004 reauthorization bill contained more than 3,200 earmarks worth more than $10 billion. This year's version already has more than 3,700 earmarks worth about $10 billion, and that number will almost certainly grow before the bill is finalized. Every member of the House and Senate benefits from this largesse, making it difficult for members to vote against, even if the bill is bloated and ultimately too expensive.

Here's where you can learn more about transportation pork:

• Bridge to Nowhere: The most brazen abuse of earmarking in 2004 has to be credited to Don Young (R-AK), Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He is trying to sell federal taxpayers a $315 million bridge in rural Alaska. Click Here to read about this project.
  
  
• Earmark Databases: TCS databased all of the earmarks in the most recent version of transportation bill reauthorization.
  
  
  • H.R. 3 (2005)--final version as signed by President on August 10, 2005
    • State-by-state breakdown
    • Database of every earmark (pdf)
    • Per capita data|
      
      
  • H.R. 3 (2005)--passed House on March 10, 2005
    • Database of every earmark (pdf)
    • Database write-up
    • State-by-state earmark database
    • TCS Op-Ed in Detroit News (5/22/05)
      
      
  • H.R. 3550 (2004)--did not pass
    • Database of every earmark (pdf .5MB)
    • Database write-up
    • State-by-state earmark database