Well over a year after Congress voluntarily imposed a ban on pork barrel spending , the number and cost of earmarks have dropped dramatically , a report said Tuesday -- but the snouts are not out of the trough altogether . The 2012 database of pork-barrel projects compiled by the nongovernmental group Citizens Against Government Waste , known as the Congressional Pig Book , says Congress has some way to go to cut out wasteful spending . It finds that the number of earmarks has decreased by 98.3 % from 9,129 in fiscal year 2010 , when the Pig Book was last produced , to just 152 in fiscal year 2012 . The cost has also plummeted by 80 % , from $ 16.5 billion in 2010 to $ 3.3 billion in 2012 , the lowest sum in a decade , it says . Numerous pet projects still found their way into appropriations bills despite the supposed moratorium on earmarks , the Pig Book 's authors say -- and despite Congress certifying each appropriations bill as earmark-free . Citizens Against Government Waste acknowledges that its criteria for what constitutes an earmark differ from those of Congress . The report comes amid a political furor over allegations of lavish spending on conferences and rewards programs by the General Services Administration , a government agency . Earmarks , which are federal funds that members of Congress direct to specific projects back home , were common practice for years but have become a target for budget-conscious deficit hawks . Those detected in 2012 `` involve larger amounts of money and include fewer details than in prior years , '' the Pig Book says , with a side effect of the moratorium being that pork barrel spending is much harder to spot . `` The supposed lack of earmarks resulted in a completely opaque process . Since earmarks were deemed to be non-existent , there were no names of legislators , no information on where and why the money will be spent , and no list or chart of earmarks in the appropriations bills or reports , '' the report says . `` While the lower number and cost of earmarks are a vast improvement over prior years , transparency and accountability have regressed immeasurably . '' The Pig Book highlights several earmarks slipped into the defense appropriations bill , including $ 255 million to upgrade the M1 Abrams tank , a project opposed by the Pentagon ; $ 239 million for cancer research that is already funded elsewhere ; and $ 50 million for National Guard Counterdrug Program state plans . It also flags $ 9.5 million for high energy cost grants , $ 3.4 million for national fish hatchery operations and $ 3 million for aquatic plant control as among the `` most blatant examples of pork . '' But as part of an overall downward trend , the appropriations bill for Labor , Health and Human Services saw a huge decline in earmarks , from 1,789 in 2010 to three in 2012 . One of those that made it through was $ 5 million for abstinence education . Only one earmark showed up in the 2012 financial services appropriations bill , the report says , down from 270 in the 2010 financial year . That was $ 38.5 million for a drug trafficking program at the Office of National Drug Control Policy . Four earmarks were spotted in the State and Foreign Operations appropriations bill , the report says , including $ 114.8 million for the United Nations Democracy Fund , despite the Obama administration never requesting funding for it . Another is a $ 5.9 million award for the East-West Center in Hawaii , which its authors flag as a home-state project of Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye , D-Hawaii . Earmarks have typically accounted for less than 1 % of the budget . But critics say the funding awards do not undergo the same scrutiny as other spending and tend to reflect the influence individual lawmakers wield in Congress , rather than merit . While some lawmakers have called for legislation to be passed to turn the moratorium into a permanent ban on earmarks , others oppose that step . The report names Inouye ; Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nevada ; Senate Appropriations Committee ranking member Thad Cochran , R-Mississippi ; and Senate appropriator Lamar Alexander , R-Tennessee , as among those critical of the continuation of the moratorium . Citizens Against Government Waste suggests that until a ban is imposed , `` taxpayers will be justified in their belief that members of Congress are being creative and deceptive in skirting the moratorium and continuing to obtain earmarks . ''
The number of earmarks has increased dramatically for 2012 , the Pig Book report says . Some projects are still finding their way into the bills despite a voluntary ban . A tank upgrade program and fish hatchery projects are also highlighted by the report . The supposed ban on pork barrel spending has damaged transparency , its authors say .