Defense Bill Loaded with Earmarks

A defense spending bill that contains several key provisions favored by the White House and Defense Secretary Robert Gates -- killing the F-22 fighter jet, for example -- is expected to reach the Senate floor sometime Tuesday. But attached to the $636 billion bill is $2.65 billion in earmarks, ranging from unwanted defense projects to targeted pork for campaign donors.

The bill "would add $1.7 billion for an extra destroyer the Defense Department did not request and $2.5 billion for 10 C-17 cargo planes it did not want, at the behest of lawmakers representing the states where those items would be built," The Washington Post reported Tuesday. The story also details a number of smaller earmarks:

[Sen. Thad] Cochran, the ranking Republican on the Appropriations subcommittee on defense, also added $12 million in earmarked spending for Raytheon Corp., whose officials have contributed $10,000 to his campaign since 2007. He earmarked nearly $6 million in military funding for Circadence Corp., whose officers -- including a former Cochran campaign aide -- contributed $10,000 in the same period...In total, the spending bill for 2010 includes $132 million for Cochran's campaign donors.