Butterfield's earmarks closer to $200m

Military procurements make up 97 percent of Rep. G.K. Butterfield's requests.

As noted previously, the Wilson Democrat asked for $7.3 billion in earmarks in this year's federal budget, according to his own Web site.

But $7.1 billion of the requests is for military expenditures that do not directly benefit his Congressional district, an appropriation request that watchdog groups say does not meet their definition of an earmark.

That includes requests for new Virginia-class submarines, aircraft carriers, research on new aircraft and ruggedized avionics for contractors in Virginia, Maryland and California.

Some of the military-related appropriations requests have North Carolina ties, however. Another $31 million in earmarks would go toward research at East Carolina University and N.C. State, a contractor in Elizabeth City and testing in the state, among other things.

Subtracting the national military requests, Butterfield's earmarks total $200 million, putting him more in the middle of the Congressional delegation's requests.