Published: March 11, 2009 02:27 am      

Byrd earmarks in federal spending bill worth $123 million

CHARLESTON — At 91, Sen. Robert Byrd might appear frail.

Yet when it comes to dragging down money for his home state, there’s no denying that Byrd remains a force on Capitol Hill.

He is poised to scoop up 60 earmarks for West Virginia at a cost of $123 million, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, a Capitol Hill watchdog group that analyzed pork projects included in the $410 billion omnibus spending bill needed to fund the federal government through Sept. 30.

In a vote last Wednesday that closely followed party lines, the House approved the bill 245 to 178. The Senate had scheduled a vote the following day, but Democratic leaders had to put it off until this week because they could muster only 59 votes. That’s one vote shy of the 60 necessary to shut off debate.

Many Republicans — and a few Democrats — object to the more than 8,500 earmarks in the legislation.

No other senator or Congress member secured more money from the bill.

Following Byrd are Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., with $115 million, and Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., with $86 million.

While Taxpayers for Common Sense is a nonpartisan group that scrutinizes pork and wasteful spending, Byrd’s camp deems his earmarking successes as a badge of honor.

His longevity in the Senate is just one of the key reasons Byrd is a powerhouse in bringing home the bacon.

“He has been a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee since he first came to the Senate and has served as its chairman,” said Byrd spokesman Jesse Jacobs. “In that capacity with his seniority to the committee, he has been able to advocate and obtain federal funding for projects in West Virginia.”

Byrd’s critics have long labeled him the “King of Pork,” a designation the senator welcomes.

In a speech last April, Byrd said, “An earmark may be pork to some political chatterbox on television, but to many communities in West Virginia and other states, earmarks are economic lifelines. Earmarks may fund a road that has fallen into dangerous disrepair or a bridge that is on the verge of collapse.

“An earmark addresses economic needs that many times fall between the cracks of the Washington bureaucracy. When that happens, the people I represent cannot call some unelected bureaucrat in the White House budget office or a cabinet secretary. They call me! And I look out for those interests in West Virginia and have not and will not ever apologize for my efforts on behalf of the good people I represent.”

Topping the list of Byrd’s earmarks in the omnibus bill is $12.5 million for construction at Bluestone Lake. He also appropriated $9.5 million for Corridor H and $9 million for the Marmet Lock.

Among road projects earmarked in the bill: W.Va. 9, $6.65 million; Coalfields Expressway, $4.75 million; King Coal Highway, $4.75 million; and W.Va. 10, $4.75 million.

There are all sorts of goodies for West Virginia in the omnibus bill, from $5 million for a DNA lab at Marshall University to $783,000 for the Appalachian Fruit Research Station in Kearneysville.

Without Byrd’s tenured service, these West Virginia projects would perhaps never see the light of day.

Jacobs said the senator is particularly proud of the funding he’s secured for roads and infrastructure in the state.

“It is not cheap to build roads in mountainous West Virginia — on the average it costs $25 million a mile,” Jacobs said. “So he has been extremely determined over the years to improve West Virginia’s transportation infrastructure.”

Through Byrd’s efforts, more than 25 federal operations have relocated to West Virginia, Jacobs also noted.

“Some earmarked spending has proven to be a tremendous asset to this country,” Byrd said in another prepared speech last year.

The Senate is expected to vote on the omnibus bill this week after Republicans requested more time to add amendments.

Taxpayers for Common Sense identified 8,570 disclosed earmarks worth $7.7 billion in the measure.

Though Byrd pulled in more earmarks than anyone, he’s not included in a list of outlandish projects noted by the watchdog group. Examples provided by the group include $24,000 for abstinence programs, sponsored by Sen. Arlen Spector, R-Pa., and $381,000 for jazz programs at the Lincoln Center in New York, sponsored by Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y.

For years, Byrd has faced scrutiny from watchdog groups and anti-pork advocates. The senator is often a target of Citizens Against Government Waste, which Byrd called “a bunch of peckerwoods” on National Public Radio in 2001.

That group has a Web page dedicated to Byrd called “Byrd Droppings” and points out the dozens of taxpayer-funded projects named after him.