Sen. John McCain's Top 10 Earmark Tweets

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Where can we find out how the 800 billion dollars of the stimulus was spent?
Please

philip young of CA 3:17PM February 24, 2010

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annamariea of AK 2:17AM December 13, 2009

Pointing out federal spending on "pork" is always a wonderful idea. It has been a wonderful idea for scores of years. However, it has so far solved nothing by my reckoning.
John McCain is just one of many senators and representatives with long careers in Washington, D.C. In his case, 1982 was the starting date, the first four of those in the House, the rest in the Senate. More than 25 years of some good intentions (earmarks and campaign finance the obvious ones) and a host of missed opportunities with BIG problems that continue to plague this country.
Yes, John McCain has not been alone in failing to solve the big problems. He's just one of many with careers in Washington long enough to have done some real good. Think of how long health care reform has been talked about before the system became so costly and dysfunctional that it only recently became identifiable as a BIG problem. Or immigration reform--a problem with a 20-year background now in crisis stage involving health care, education, crime, etc. Or guns rampant, a problem growing over the years and involving more and more deaths of innocents by shooting. Or the drugs fiasco that now has Mexico involved in policing drugs traffic headed north (us) and frequent bloody battles with guns supplied from the north (us). Or a tax system so complicated that we all have to have professional tax preparers just to avoid breaking the law in our ignorance. Or corporate control of our elected officials and the effective negating of the one-vote-one-person intent of public elections.
Whatever I've missed in the dizzying array of problems, you supply. Those long in elected office as senators and representatives are to blame. They have to be unless each of us is willing to be blamed for our role in helping elect them. I'm not willing to let John McCain off the hook, his pork lists and failed effort (with Feingold) at campaign finance reform notwithstanding. There have been so many missed opportunities, so many chances to clear the books of BIG problems that I think it time to get to work on what needs reforming right away: the political culture in Washington, D. C.
John McCain and the rest of the long-tenured crowd in that culture have let us down. Period.

Ron W. Smith of UT 4:19PM November 25, 2009

Very Interesting, but how does this compare to Obama's cuts in Federal spending that the Republicans all laughed about not long ago? What percentage of the Federal Deficit are these totals??
Anyway, of the Top 10 lists above:
AZ $24,839,379 (thanks to T.H. Rau's analysis above, excluding the $91.8M for the Central Phoenix light rail system--all cities could use this!)
Hawaii: $15,250,000 for 6 projects (botanical garden, arts program, Seascape improvement, coral research, agriculture practices, and renewable energy)
West Virgina: $10.050,000 for 5 projects (wastewater treatment, conservation training, Coast Guard, fruit laboratory, and fuel dispensing station.)
Lastly, the $10M for the Mississippi Sustainable Energy Research Center would cover any of the other four categories entire list of 10 projects.
or
the $91.8M for the Central Phoenix light rail system would cover all 50 of these earmarks, with $27.7 million to spare.

Zipped of IN 2:25PM November 25, 2009

Seems to me that if we're going to spend federal funds on swine odor reduction, the project should be sited in DC, not NC or IA.

Doncha think? of OK 1:29PM November 25, 2009

Seems to me that if we're going to spend federal funds on swine odor reduction, the project should be sited in DC, not NC or IA.

Doncha think? of OK 1:29PM November 25, 2009

Not surprisingly, Senator McCain approves of these earmarks:
 • Glendale Historic Entryway, $200,000
 • Upper San Pedro River Monitoring and Reporting, $295,000
• Buckskin Sanitary District Wastewater Facilities Improvements, $500,000
• Surprise Water Treatment Improvements, $500,000 • Pascua Yaqui Tribe Master Drainage Plan, $700,000 
• ARS Southwest Watershed Research Center, Tucson, $254,000 • International Arid Lands Consortium, $401,000 
• Chicanos Por La Causa for a business incubator, $245,643 
• Cochise County Community College Entrepreneurial Education and Development, $49,129
 • Navajo Nation Department of Information Technology for Connect Navajo, $122,821 
• Pima County Community College Entrepreneurial Education and Development, $147,386
• Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport for a high-speed taxiway connector, $950,000
 • Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport for Taxiway R reconstruction, $1.9 million 
• Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport for Taxiway B expansion, $950,000 • Central Mesa Corridor Alternatives Analysis, $237,500 • Interstate 10 West Corridor Alternative Analysis, $475,000 • Tempe South Corridor Alternatives Analysis, $237,500 • South Mountain Circulator Bus, $950,000
• Central Phoenix/East Valley Light Rail, $91.8 million
• Phoenix to Tucson Commuter Rail Study, $3.5 million • Mountain Links BRT, Flagstaff, $5.6 million 
• Tucson Modern Streetcar/Light Rail Transit System, $2 million 
• Arizona Forest Highway 39 and General Hitchcock Highway (Catalina Highway), Pima County, $1.6 million
 • Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge, $4.2 million • Tohono O'odham Nation infrastructure-roads improvement, Sells, $950,000
 • Sage Brush Road Project, Navajo Mountain Chapter, $139,650 
• Interstate 10 Improvements Project, Interstate 8 to Picacho Peak, $95,000 • Obed Bridge Replacement, Navajo County, $190,000 
• Pinetop-Lakeside Bridge Widening Project, $190,000 
• Chicanos Por La Causa for equipment furnishings and improvements for a community campus, Phoenix, $380,000
 • Willcox construction of a senior-care center, $95,000 
• Esperanza en Escalante for building improvements, construction and expansion, Tucson, $166,250 
• The Salvation Army for community center expansion, Phoenix, $380,000 • Mammoth expansion of a community center, $142,500 
• Jobs for Arizona's Graduates for dropout prevention and after-school programs, Scottsdale 
• Maricopa County Community College District for the bilingual nursing program at Gateway South Mountain Community College, Tempe, $285,000 
• Mesa Community College for the online registered nurse certification program, $119,000
 • Northern Arizona University for student support services and community outreach programs, Yuma, $128,000
• University of Arizona for instruction and support to disabled veterans, Tucson, $238,000 
• University of Arizona for the Integrative Medicine in Residency Program, Tucson, $476,000
 • Catholic Community Services of Southern Arizona Domestic Violence Center, Tucson,