May 13, 2021 - Politics & Policy
By the numbers: Where the earmarks are wanted
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The Dallas-Fort Worth area is being targeted for the largest collective earmark request in the country, according to a detailed breakdown of overall requests released by the House Appropriations Committee.
Why it matters: House appropriators are trying to balance bipartisan momentum for infrastructure investment with "pork-barrel" spending's checkered political history. The data dump is an effort to provide transparency for what are now termed "community project funding" requests.
- The Appropriations Committee released details on nearly 3,000 requests.
- House members are limited to 10 requests each, according to committee guidelines, but there's no overall dollar limit.
- The Texas ZIP Code leading the U.S. in terms of earmark requests is home to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, the country's fourth busiest.
- While it's targeted for the most funding in terms of the sums requested, there's no guarantee each of the three requests made for it — filed by three different lawmakers — will be fulfilled.
