CBS News: Byrd "Droppings" In West Virginia

Why Are So Many Of Your Tax Dollars Going To Dedicate Buildings To A Senate Earmark King?:

At age 90, Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia has been in the Senate longer than anybody else. And he's spent much of that time as head of the most powerful spending committee, with extraordinary control over earmarks — grants of your tax dollars without the normal public review, CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports.

In his famously colorful Senate speeches, Byrd has repeatedly defended his earmarks...

"Hear me!! Some members have asserted that all, all, all earmarked funding is wasteful spending or an abuse of power," Byrd said. "Hogwash!"

Byrd was the first senator to rack up a total of $1 billion in earmarks for his home state.

That was in 1999. Today he's past the $3 billion mark...