Bush brings millions in federal earmarks to St. Louis, while some Republicans take a pass

ST. LOUIS — Missouri’s congressional lawmakers this year are handing out nearly $311 million to projects in their districts as they are able for the first time in more than a decade to bring home the bacon with the return of federal earmarks.

Some Republicans, however, chose not to request any funds, calling it a wasteful spending practice prone to same abuse that led to its ban in 2010.

In the St. Louis area, Democratic Congresswoman Cori Bush spent Wednesday celebrating the funding awards with visits to four of her 10 recipients. Her afternoon included lots of happy speeches and photo ops with oversized cardboard checks amid balloons and cupcakes.

In total, her office awarded $9.2 million directly to organizations addressing issues such as homelessness, gun violence and access to health care across her congressional district, which includes the city of St. Louis and much of north St. Louis County.

“The priority of our office is to do the absolute most for every single person in this district, starting with those who have the greatest need,” Bush told a crowd at the St. Patrick Center, which along with BJC HealthCare, received $800,000 from her office to fund a program that provides housing and other services for homeless patients frequently ending up in the emergency room.

U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner, a Republican whose district largely includes western and southern St. Louis County, did not request any earmarks for her district. Wagner’s office did not respond to the Post-Dispatch’s request for comment as to why she took a pass.

Along with Wagner, Sen. Josh Hawley and Reps. Jason Smith and Vicky Hartzler — all Republicans — also chose to forgo the opportunity to dole out funds.

Meanwhile, Missouri’s other U.S. senator, Republican Roy Blunt, who is not running for reelection, was one of 16 GOP lawmakers in the Senate who decided to partake in a big way. His list of more than 50 projects made up the bulk of the state’s earmarks and pushed Missouri to have around the sixth-highest share of earmarks out of any state.

Blunt’s projects include $12.6 million to raise levees near Chesterfield and $13 million to help replace the Chester Bridge between Perryville and Chester, Illinois. The biggest award was $61 million to support the University of Missouri’s NextGen Precision Health, a new 256,000-square-foot research facility that uses the latest technology to tackle conditions like heart disease, Alzheimer’s and cancer.

When asked for comment, Blunt’s office referred a reporter to a press release he issued in March when the federal budget that includes the earmarks was approved. The release touted Missouri’s advancements in areas such as medical research, agriculture, manufacturing and defense aviation.

“Smart, targeted federal investments will allow our state to continue growing our footprint in these areas that are critically important in the 21st century economy,” he stated.

When senators filed requests for earmarks in May of last year, Blunt told Politico at the time: “If House Republicans are requesting individual projects and House Democrats are — and Senate Democrats are — it would seem to me there’s a big gap there for the people we represent if we don’t become part of that process.”

Earmarks were often the subject of waste and scandal in the early 2000s as lawmakers were accused of using them as pet projects to benefit supporters or themselves. Some even landed in prison.

Republicans banned the practice, derided as pork-barrel spending, after they won control of the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010. (The GOP also took the Senate in 2014.)

Earmarks were revived last year after Democrats took control of both the House and Senate and given new names — Community Funding Projects in House, and Congressionally-Directed Spending in the Senate.

This time, earmarks come with more oversight, such as limits on who can receive the funds and transparency rules. Projects are also subject to random audits by the Government Accountability Office.

Earmarks do not increase federal spending. Instead, they instruct federal agencies on how to spend up to 1% of their budgets. The requests go through the appropriations committees in the House and the Senate and are approved if they meet all the conditions.

Out of the government’s latest $1.5 trillion spending bill approved in March, $9.7 billion will go toward earmarks.

Missouri received nearly $311 million in earmarks. The state will also benefit from $45.2 million in Army Corps of Engineers projects requested by multiple senators and representatives in states along the Mississippi River.

Despite only two of the eight House representatives from Missouri being Democrats, the Democratic representatives awarded $24.3 million to their districts, while Republicans doled out $21.3 million. (This amount does not include the $45.2 million Army Corps project.)

Neither Hartzler, who represents Missouri’s 4th Congressional District and is running for Blunt’s Senate seat, nor Smith, representing the 8th Congressional District, responded to the Post-Dispatch’s request for comment about why they chose not to ask for funds.

Hawley’s office referred a reporter to a letter he signed in April of last year along with 14 other GOP senators that pledged their commitment to a ban on earmarks. It was about a month before the start of the application process.

“We will not participate…