Billions, and growing, for lawmakers’ projects in big bill

By ALAN FRAM and AARON M. KESSLER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Home-district projects for members of Congress are back, sprinkled across the government-wide $1.5 trillion bill that President Joe Biden signed recently. An analysis by The Associated Press finds there were 4,975 of them worth $9.7 billion in the measure. They ranged from $4,000 for a West Virginia city to buy evidence collection equipment to $350 million to help restore Florida’s Everglades. But many lawmakers say they did even better for their states. That’s because some say they secured projects in the bill beyond the ones the measure publicly lists as being sponsored by specific senators and representatives.