The first federal spending bill out of the gate this spring has two earmarks from U.S. Rep. David Price, a Chapel Hill Democrat and the state’s only member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee.

The committee approved the Homeland Security spending bill Tuesday afternoon, Barb Barrett reports. Price is chairman of the subcommittee that wrote the $39 billion bill.

Within it, Price directed $1 million to buy communications equipment at the emergency operations center at the N.C. Department of Crime Control and Public Safety.

He also directed $5 million toward something called “Impact of Climate on Future Disasters.” The money will also go to the state public safety department, said Paul Cox, a Price spokesman. The money fill allow geospatial experts to study the long-term impacts of climate change and sea-level rise to figure out potential risks for communities, fisheries, agriculture and the environment.

Earmarks are special spending projects inserted into larger bills by specific members of Congress. They have been criticized by groups such as Taxpayers for Common Sense, a Washington organization that put together the database listing the earmarks.

Taxpayers for Common Sense listed 104 earmarks totaling $180 million in the bill.

U.S. Rep. Robin Hayes, a Concord Republican with a high hill to climb for re-election this year, also has an earmark: $468,000 for pre-disaster work in Kannapolis.

Hayes isn’t on the spending panel, but at-risk members of Congress from both sides of the aisle often receive earmarks as a way for them to curry favor back home.

Correction: An earlier version misstated Hayes' party affiliation. 

U.S. Rep. David Price ranks No. 18 in the House of Representatives in bringing home the bacon, according to the annual "Pig Book" released today by watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste.

Price is responsible for 71 projects totalling $91.4 million, according to the 2008 Congressional Pig Book.

The annual Pig Book tracks targeted spending, called earmarks, that members of Congress direct to specific agencies, local governments or businesses, usually in their home districts.

Such earmarks often are known as "pork" spending.

Price, a Chapel Hill Democrat, could be expected to rank high. He is the state’s only member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee — which allocated federal tax dollars. He also is chairman of the spending subcommittee on homeland security.

He is just ahead of Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the dollar rankings.

The next highest-ranking member from the Tar Heel state is U.S. Rep. Brad Miller, a Raleigh Democrat, at No. 78. His 19 projects total $47.5 million, according to the watchdog group.

In the Senate, Elizabeth Dole ranks 49th. She has 110 projects totalling $133.6 million, according to the group.

The folks at Americans for Prosperity are not inclined to take the advice of U.S. Rep. David Price to take a deep breath about earmarks.

Dallas Woodhouse, the group's state director, said today that Price's defense of earmarks during a speech Wednesday before the Cary Chamber of Commerce "shows just how out of touch he is with North Carolina's taxpayers."

Price, a Chapel Hill Democrat, told the group Wednesday that the debate over congressional earmarks has been blown out of proportion. He said the U.S. Constitution clearly gives Congress the right to direct spending, and said earmarks have resulted in funding for important local projects such as a water reclamation facility in Cary.

Woodhouse cited other projects funded through earmarks - a Mule and Packers Museum in California, the American Ballet Theatre in New York and the Lobster Institute in Maine.

"Are these really necessary projects that North Carolina's hard-working taxpayers need to be funding?" Woodhouse asked in a release.

U.S. Rep. David Price says earmarks have gotten a bad rap.

In a speech before the Cary Chamber of Commerce this morning, the Chapel Hill Democrat said the recent debate over Congressional earmarks has blown them out of proportion.

Price said the total amount of money spent on earmarked projects is about 1 percent of the federal budget. The bigger problems with spending are the Iraq war, Medicare and Social Security, he said.

A professor of political science, Price argued that the U.S. Constitution clearly gives Congress "the power of the purse," including the right to direct spending. He cited several local projects, including a town water reclamation facility, that were needed.

The issue with earmarks is not spending, since most of the money would be appropriated anyway, he said. Instead, he said, it has been a lack of transparency and "road to nowhere" projects that were not worthy.

Still, he said, there is "a fair amount of exaggeration" about earmarks.

"This earmark process has become kind of a bugaboo and it's going to figure in some of the campaigns," he said. "Everybody should take a deep breath."

U.S. Rep. David Price was North Carolina's top solo earmarker.

According to a database compiled by the nonprofit Taxpayers for Common Sense, the Chapel Hill Democrat was singlehandedly responsible for $24.3 million in earmarks in this year's spending bills.

He was followed by Reps. Heath Shuler ($14.9 million), Bob Etheridge ($11.2 million), Robin Hayes ($8.6 million) and Virginia Foxx ($7.6 million).

At the bottom of the list, Rep. G.K. Butterfield, who was responsible for just $856,000 in solo earmarks.

The list shift slightly if you include earmarks requested along with other members of Congress. On that list, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole is top with $147.8 million, followed by Sen. Richard Burr ($116.2 million), Price ($90.1 million), Hayes ($43.8 million) and Rep. Mike McIntyre ($32.6 million).

Butterfield still comes in last, with $8.2 million.

Click below for North Carolina earmarks or here for the complete spreadsheet.

President Bush told Americans that the surge is working.

In what is likely his final State of the Union address, he said that Iraq is more stable because of 30,000 additional troops sent a year ago.

He also asked for support for an economic stimulus package, a $300 million package to send poor children to religious schools and a proposal to give preference to hiring military spouses in the federal government. He also said he would veto bills that had too many earmarks. (N&O)

U.S. Rep. Brad Miller, a Democrat, said it was "too late" for Bush to create a legacy on domestic policy, while U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge, also a Democrat, criticized Bush for waiting to raise the issue of earmark reform.

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, a Republican, said he was glad to see the president put "teeth" into fiscal discipline. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, also a Republican, said that while she has been "frustrated" by Bush's stance on immigration reform and Iraq, he has kept the country safe. (N&O)

With half a trillion bucks stuffed into the spending bill, there were bound to be a few million headed for the Triangle.

U.S. Reps. David Price of Chapel Hill and Bob Etheridge of Lillington, both Democrats, have released some of the special spending projects—called earmarks—that they requested for the Triangle, Barb Barrett reports. They are:

* A combined $3.675 million for road and highway projects, including funding for the completion of the southwestern portion of Interstate 540, improvements to grade crossings at Walker Street in Cary and Hobson Road in Durham, and for statewide upgrades for bus service. (Price)

* $287,000 to add 44 beds for inpatient, acute mental health care at Holly Hill Hospital, which provides care for the indigent and uninsured. (Price)

* A combined $697,000 to help convert hog-waste lagoons to more environmentally sustainable waste technologies through research at N.C. State University. (Price)

* A combined $7.5 million to N.C. State for other projects including research into food fermentation, crop pathogens, wood utilization and aquaculture. (Etheridge)

* $1 million for communications for the Raleigh Police Department and Wake County. (Etheridge)

* $164,500 for a protection system for Johnston County schools. (Etheridge)

U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry is in the giving mood.

The Cherryville Republican sent all GOP Congress members a paper angel ornament and a miniature lump of coal, the Sleuth blog reports.

McHenry was chiding Rep. Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican, for killing an earmark to support the Home of the Perfect Christmas Tree:

McHenry sent the tiny lump of coal and angel ornament to all GOP members with a note that read: "Were you naughty or nice this year? What matters most is that your house is Home of the Perfect Christmas Tree this holiday season."

McHenry said he wanted to draw attention to products from his district.

Will U.S. Sen. Richard Burr win his campaign for a leadership post?

A closer look at campaign finance records by the Sunlight Foundation gives reason for skepticism.

The numbers suggest that his competition for the Republican conference chairman, Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchinson and Lamar Alexander, have better odds.

Hutchinson has 20 former staffers now working as lobbyists, compared to three for Burr and none for Alexander. Her leadership PAC raised $632,000, compared to $215,000 for Burr's and $15,000 for Alexander's.

"If you're just following the money, you might infer that more people with more at stake on Capitol Hill have a vested interest in Hutchison moving up as opposed to Burr or Alexander," the Foundation notes. 

In addition, Hutchinson got more earmarks in agriculture, defense, energy and water and other bills.

On another front, the group found that Burr's votes most often match Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss and least often match Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island.

When is an earmark not an earmark? When it's a request.

Some Washington, D.C., types took issue with a Dome item yesterday — and the CNN story it linked to — that said that members of North Carolina's Congressional delegation were not releasing their requests for pet projects in federal spending bills.

As a spokesman for U.S. Rep. David Price pointed out, he will be revealing his earmarks under new House rules, but he won't reveal which ones he requested that were turned down.

"An earmark request is not an earmark, just as an egg is not an omelet," said Paul Cox.

He said the public has an interest in earmarks because they are paid for with taxpayer dollars, but not in unheeded earmark requests since they never amount to anything.