The 500 projects Maine’s congressional delegation wants to fund with earmarks
By Jessica Piper, Bangor Daily News Staff
Members of Maine’s congressional delegation submitted roughly 500 earmark requests at more than $900 million for the next year, with the potential to fund projects from Kittery to the Allagash.
It is the second year that members have been able to submit congressionally directed spending requests for local projects. The requests will make up a tiny share of the federal spending bill but can go far in communities where funding may otherwise be hard to secure. Not all funding requests will get money in the final bill, but more than 100 Maine projects were funded last year.
All four members of Maine’s congressional delegation submitted more requests for the coming year than the year prior. House members were only permitted to submit 10 requests last year; this year, the number rose to 15. Both U.S. Reps. Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden submitted that higher total. Senators can submit as many requests as they would like.
From left, Jared Golden, Susan Collins, Angus King and Chellie Pingree
Some earmarks got backing from several members of the delegation. For example, U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King both requested $16 million — among the delegation’s largest requests — to rehabilitate Route 15 from Abbot to Greenville in Piscataquis County.
The cost of each earmark ranges from $17,000 requested by Collins to expand the University of Maine Law School’s legal aid clinic to $19.4 million requested by King to design and install a PFAS treatment facility in Madison.
Last year, Collins and King ranked, respectively, 17th and 23rd out of all 100 senators in terms of the total money brought back to Maine through the earmark process, according to the New York Times. Pingree and Golden were in the middle among representatives.
Use the following link to see the full list of earmarks requested https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/10520932/embed.