Houston Congress members want millions for projects Texas lawmakers rip budget, but seek millions

But although the libertarian-leaning Republican from Lake Jackson cast a vote against the massive spending measure, his fingerprints were on some of the earmarks that helped inflate its cost.

Paul played a role in obtaining 22 earmarks worth $96.1 million, which led the Houston congressional delegation, according to a Houston Chronicle analysis of more than 8,500 congressionally mandated projects inserted into the bill. His earmarks included repair projects to the Galveston Seawall damaged by Hurricane Ike and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.

Following Paul was Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston, who got earmarks worth $63.6 million. But it was a bipartisan spending spree. Just behind the GOP duo were Houston Democrats Al Green with $50.1 million in pet projects and Sheila Jackson Lee with $37.6 million.

Earmarks, said Rep. Ted Poe, R-Humble, “allow lawmakers to have a say in how taxpayer dollars (are) spent.” His nine earmarks included $712,500 to mitigate airport noise at George Bush Intercontinental Airport.

“It is in the best interest of the taxpayers,” Poe said, “to have their member of Congress secure funding for local projects than to leave it up to unaccountable and un-elected bureaucrats in Washington.”

Culberson’s spokeswoman, Megan Mitchell, said his answer for requests is always no “unless the project is cost effective and serves a legitimate government purpose.”

Culberson has worked hard to gain federal funding for flood control projects and other proposals that help his constituents. His earmarks ranged from $13.8 million for the Houston Ship Channel to $95,000 for Houston Baptist University.

Paul, Green and Jackson Lee did not respond to requests for comment.

Last year’s requests

The earmark spending binge, which will cost taxpayers at least $7.7 billion, may be the last of its kind. President Barack Obama has promised to slash future earmarks but has indicated that he may accept the 8,570 contained in the current proposal because they were requested before he took office.

Indeed, the earmarks approved by the House last week were requested last year by members of Congress but were not approved until last week because of partisan gridlock in the closing months of the Bush administration. That meant that even some ex-members of Congress, like former Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Stafford, had their earmarks in the bill.

Lampson, who lost his House seat in November, reaped eight earmarks worth at least $21.8 million, including $190,000 for facilities and equipment at the Texas Heart Institute at Texas Medical Center in Houston.

Lampson’s successor, Rep. Pete Olson, R-Sugar Land, who arrived in Congress in early January, did not have earmarks in the package.

Hutchison’s projects

In an era of hyperpartisanship on Capitol Hill, earmarks are one of the rare issues that unite Democrats and Republicans. For example, Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison teamed up with Republican Culberson and House Democrats Al Green, Gene Green and Jackson Lee to win a $15 million earmark for Houston Metro.

Hutchison, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, led Texans with at least 104 earmarks worth about $250 million for Texas projects in the House version of the legislation. The Senate is slated to consider the package this week.

“I would not be representing the best interests of Texas if I were to allow funding decisions allowing Texas projects to be made by those who may have never visited Texas and are unaccountable to the voters,” she said.

‘Into the daylight’

Fellow Republican Sen. John Cornyn played a role in arranging at least 53 earmarks worth nearly $200 million, including money for Houston law enforcement interoperability, equipment for Head Start centers and the $15 million for Houston transit.

Cornyn said he would continue working to make sure that “Texas’ needs are met on the federal level” as he and others press efforts “to bring government spending out of the shadows of the Washington bureaucracy and into the daylight.”

Only one lawmaker who represents Houston constituents avoided earmarks.

Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, whose district stretches to northwest Harris County, said he did not seek any earmarks.

“The system,” he said, “is susceptible to waste, fraud and abuse.”

Contributing to this report was Hailey R. Branson.

stewart.powell@chron.com

richard.dunham@chron.com