Help Us Dig Through The Omnibus Spending Bill

Help Us Dig Through The Omnibus Spending Bill

The full text of the omnibus spending bill has been posted online.

Click here to access the 10 separate federal divisions' bills, summaries and statements. In addition, each of the bills is now required to include certification letters, in which lawmakers are required to disclose the "earmarks" they've requested.

The $410 billion spending package was unveiled by House Democrats on Monday, combining nine annual appropriations bills left over from last year and that are necessary to fund federal programs ranging from the national parks to NASA.

Later this week, the House will vote on the measure and the Senate will take it up later.

Please take a look through the bill and the certification letters and let us know if you find anything noteworthy or surprising, wasteful or unnecessary. Email your findings to submissions+omnibus@huffingtonpost.com.

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Included in the bill are thousands of pet projects - or "earmarks" - requested by individual lawmakers. By some estimates, the bill contains at least 9,000 such earmarks.

Recently, it was reported that more than 100 House members got earmarks for clients of the PMA Group, a lobbying firm close to Rep. john Murtha and which is under investigation by the FBI for illegal campaign contributions.

In addition, USA Today reported on some of the bill's more unusual earmarks:

Among them: $142,500 for a museum honoring the late House speaker Sam Rayburn, requested by Rep. Ralph Hall, R-Texas; $300,000 for a science camp curriculum in West Virginia requested by Rep. Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va.; and $150,000 for renovations to the Westwood Theater in Rexburg, Idaho, requested by Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho.

Again, send your thoughts and finds to submissions+omnibus@huffingtonpost.com.

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