Back in April, I commented about the Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 earmarks and the fact that after all the promises made in the 2006 elections by Democrats to “clean up the appropriations process” and tackle the abuse of earmarks, it had not happened.

It appears it won’t happen in FY 2009.

The Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) conducted an analysis of the FY 2009 version of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations in the House and found:

In total, there are 1,370 earmarks worth a staggering $618.8 million of taxpayer money. This represents a 5 percent increase in number of projects, but a whopping 122 percent increase in dollar amounts over the FY 2008 version, which had 1,305 earmarks costing $277.9 million.

An increase of 122%. Ouch! That’s even a little more than a gallon of gas has gone up since the Democrats took control of Congress.

CAGW also reported:

The top three porkers are as follows: Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii), $168.5 million; Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), $161.3 million; and Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.), $148.5.

Hmmm, the top three are Democrats. I guess tackling the abuse of earmarks is a good thing to run on to gain the majority in the Congress, but after having a few sips of that powerful kool-aid, it appears one’s view on the issue changes rather quickly. We saw this first-hand in Montana with Jon “I don’t support earmarks, period” Tester. It appears it’s an epidemic in the Democratic party.