Shedding light onto a practice that has garnered searing criticism in recent years, Congress — for the first time — disclosed the origins of the close to $8 billion in pet projects that appear in the defense appropriations bill. About 35 percent of these special projects, known as earmarks, have been inserted in Navy and Marine Corps accounts in the 2008 bill. Lawmakers earmarked 442 projects worth $2.1 billion for the Navy and 29 projects totaling $70.4 million for the Marine Corps. Prior to this year's bill, congressional add-ons did not reveal which lawmaker sponsored which project, what companies benefited and how much they received.
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