Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran broke ranks with fellow Republicans Sunday to pass a $1.1 trillion omnibus federal spending bill for the 2010 fiscal year. The bill combined $447 billion for transportation, housing and urban development with roughly $650 billion for federal benefit programs like Medicare. It also included $3.9 billion in earmarks for special projects, of which $150 million went to Mississippi. Support from Cochran and two other Republicans, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, gave Democrats the 60 votes they needed to surpass a threatened GOP filibuster. The spending measure now awaits President Barack Obama's signature.
"As a compilation of six of the annual 12 appropriations bills taken up by Congress, this measure includes a significant level of federal support for projects and programs in Mississippi," Cochran said in a statement. "I support the directed funding in this legislation that will encourage improvements in education, health care, transportation and economic development in Mississippi."
Cochran, a former Appropriations Committee chairman, is notorious for his support of federal earmarks and regularly ranks near the top among senators for the number and size of his annual earmark haul.
According to watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense, the spending bill contained 5,224 earmarks worth a total of $3.9 billion. Of that, over $150 million is devoted to projects in Mississippi.
By comparison, Washington Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat who chairs the Senate Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations subcommittee, only obtained 61 earmarks worth $68.8 million.
Mississippi's earmarks include $14.3 million for a new National Guard center in Monticello, $16.3 million for a Joint Forces Training Center at Camp Shelby and $9.8 million for a maintenance facility at the Columbus Air Force Base.
Jackson-area earmarks include $8 million for improvements to the University of Mississippi Medical Center's Arthur C. Guyton Laboratory. Jackson State University's National Center for Biodefense Communications, which conducts research and compiles data on bioterrorism threats to agriculture, is slated to receive $750,000 through the bill. The bill also directs $2.3 million for improvements at Jackson-Evers International Airport.
Mississippi's other Senator, Republican Roger Wicker, voted against the spending bill.
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