Top Ten and Bottom Ten Earmarks for Texas from the Federal Omnibus Appropriations Act,
Fiscal Year 2004
Rank City/County Description Amount
1 Houston FBI Building $58,080,000
2 Eagle Pass Border Station construction $31,980,000
3 Dallas North Central Light Rail Extension $31,161,283
4 Houston Houston Area Air Traffic System $25,000,000
5 Del Rio Border Station construction $23,966,000
6 Houston Project GRAD-USA, Inc.--Program focusing on school reform $20,000,000
7 McAllen Border Station construction $17,938,000
8 West Texas Efficient Irrigation $10,350,000
9 San Antonio Courthouse Construction $8,000,000
10 Houston Houston Advanced Metro Transit Plan--New starts $8,000,000
274 Harris Harris County--Economic development study of Unincorporated Revitalization Program in Precinct 2 $100,000
275 Williamson Williamson County--Community center construction $100,000
276 Abilene CityLink Public Transportation Services--Job Access and Reverse Commute grant $100,000
277 Texas Wool research $90,000
278 San Antonio San Antonio Food Bank--land acquisition and facility build out $75,000
279 Texas Dairy and meat goat research $57,000
280 Dallas Today Foundation--Expansion of Imagination Station literacy program $50,000
281 Houston Houston Independent School District--River Oaks elementary school $50,000
282 Houston Houston Community College System--Accelerated nursing proficiency center $50,000
283 Austin Capitol Area Boy Scouts--Juvenile justice program discretionary grant $25,000
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Texas received almost $469 million in earmarked funds in the 2004 federal appropriations process spread across 283 separate earmarks. These range from large multi-million dollar projects to small projects with price tags of just several tens of thousands of dollars. Every project is important to those in the project area. The biggest projects serve broader interests. In Texas these involve border security, transportation, and areas with a high public profile. Smaller projects are targeted to serve narrower constituencies.

Source: Taxpayers for Common Sense. (full source)