Taxpayers for Common Sense has mapped the connections between earmarks and campaign contributions for the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee.
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New chairman Daniel Inouye (D-HI) requested 46 earmarks worth $330.8 million and received 35 earmarks worth $206.5 million in the final bill. Inouye has received $173,000 in campaign contributions since 2007 from the companies he requested earmarks for. The biggest donor among them is Lockheed Martin, which operates a major facility in Hawaii and donated $61,300.
But Inouye was bested by Ranking Member Thad Cochran (R-MS), who requested 103 earmarks worth $775.3M and secured 48 earmarks worth $216 million (this includes two earmarks worth $4.1 million that were not listed among Cochran’s original requests). Cochran received $144,500 in campaign contributions from entities for which he requested earmarks. His biggest donor is shipbuilder and defense giant Northrop Grumman, which has contributed $24,050 to Cochran since 2007.
The research is part of our ongoing investigation of lawmakers with the greatest influence over our largest spending bill. Check back with us later for campaign contribution data on the entire Senate Defense Subcommittee. You can see our House version here.
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