Price has two earmarks in spending bill

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.