Forum Post: Tracking who's on the take ~ 111th Congress Earmarks

Members of Congress use "earmarks" to provide federal funding to companies, projects, groups and organizations, often in their district. This database in large part seeks to detail how the recipients of federal earmarks interact with the federal government through lobbying efforts and campaign contributions. Readers may now, for example, determine the degree to which people and political action committees associated with a specific company or organization have donated money to a congressman responsible for giving that company or organization an earmark. The database is sortable in a variety of ways, including by House and Senate members. It also provides detailed information on the number and value of earmarks members of Congress have requested during fiscal years 2008 and 2009.

On this page, click on the name of a congressional member to see whether that congressional member has received financial support from the interests for which he or she has sought federal earmarks.

The earmark, contribution and lobbying data displayed below is a joint effort of the Center for Responsive Politics and Taxpayers for Common Sense. All earmark data is provided by Taxpayers for Common Sense and all contribution and lobbying data is provided by the Center for Responsive Politics.

http://www.opensecrets.org/bigpicture/earmarks.php