Hypocrite, I think it is:
According to an analysis by the nonpartisan Taxpayers for Common Sense, Mississippi has won the earmark contest in the omnibus budget package.
Mississippi Republican Sen. Thad Cochran led his colleagues by raking in more than $470 million in 204 earmarks. Mississippi’s junior Republican, Roger Wicker, pulled in more than $390 million. The totals can’t be added together because the figure includes earmarks each received solo and with others, so the same earmark could be in both senators’ column. Cochran, on his own, pulled in roughly $76 million and Wicker brought home $4 million.
Cochran’s $76 million ranks him sixth among solo earmarkers. (Earmarks can be requested individually, with other members of Congress or along with the president.)
Senate Democrats and Republican ate roughly the same amount from the government trough on a solo basis, although Democrats have one and half times as many members. Democratic members secured about $677 million in individual earmarks; Republicans brought home $669 million. Those solo figures, however, don’t tell the entire story, because about six billion more was requested by groups of lawmakers.
I guess it is not quite time for the Republicans to break out those dusty “Fiscal Conservatism” foam fingers. Not only are earmarks less than 2% of the total omnibus bill, but Republicans are responsible for half of them (and this does not even take into account how much those states pay in taxes as compared to how much they receive nor does it note the fact that the minority party- Republicans- has a higher percentage of earmark per Senator). No doubt Michael Steele and Bobby Jindal will take to the airwaves to point out that Republicans have still “lost their way.”