Congratulations Iowans, you may have already won $61.79 in the pork barrel lottery. According to an AP story, Iowa has gone from #36 to #17 in terms of earmark appropriations. Now some are going to attribute it to the Democrats, but take two steps back if you love Chuck Grassley, he brought home more pork than anybody.
According to the "Congressional Pig Book" members of Iowa's congressional delegation have gotten more than $184 million in pork-barrel spending for the state.
Iowa had ranked 37th in a similar study in 2006. That's when lawmakers got about $72.2 million in earmarks. That's about $24.34 per Iowan.
Since then, Democrats took control of Congress and replaced Republicans in two of Iowa's congressional seats. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, also resumed chairmanship of a key appropriations committee.
However, it's a Republican - Sen. Charles Grassley - who has the highest overall spending attributed to him.
This year's national budget includes more than 11,000 earmark projects worth more than $17 billion.
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