TRAVERSE CITY -- Susan Miller is ecstatic.
She runs the fledgling Benzie Bus system and finds herself in line to receive $190,000 in federal funding to buy new buses or build a bus garage.
The special funding request, known as an earmark, has U.S. Rep. Peter Hoekstra's name on it.
"We're in our third year of operation and Congressman Hoekstra was here, he's supportive of public transportation and saw we had a real need," Miller said.
The Benzie Bus earmark is among 8,570 pet projects worth $7.7 billion submitted by members of Congress for their districts in the recently enacted $410 billion spending bill, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, a budget watchdog group.
Michigan's congressional delegation delivered more than $191 million to the state, though two Republican members, Reps. Dave Camp and Thaddeus McCotter, chose not to submit earmarks. Camp's district includes Grand Traverse, Leelanau and Kalkaska counties.
Camp did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Taxpayers for Common Sense and other critics ridicule funding for pet projects such as $819,000 for catfish genetics research in Alabama and $95,000 to help the state of New Mexico locate a dental school.
Michigan earmarks include $45,000 to purchase a remotely operated underwater vehicle for Chippewa County and $3.8 million for conservation of the old Tiger Stadium.
"These projects are not wasteful, and they are not pork," said Democratic Sen. Carl Levin in a written statement. "I believe that the elected representatives of the people in Congress are often in a better position to decide where the people's money is spent than the bureaucracy in Washington."
Levin, who sponsored the Tiger Stadium funding, said removing earmarks would not reduce federal spending by one dollar; instead, funding decisions would be left to federal agencies.
Other projects Levin and fellow Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow sponsored include: $500,000 for land acquisition at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore; $183,000 for a City of Charlevoix harbor project and $225,000 for the Point Betsie Lighthouse in Frankfort.
Camp supported earmark requests in past years, but decided two years ago that he would not request additional earmarks until the dispersal process is substantially reformed, said his spokesman, Sage Eastman.
Camp's decision left his northern Michigan counties with one earmark between them, while neighboring districts divvied up millions.
To the north, Rep. Bart Stupak, a Democrat, sponsored or co-sponsored 18 earmarks worth $5.5 million, not including his support of $17 million for a new shipping lock in Sault Ste. Marie.
Stupak obtained $900,000 for the BJ Stupak Olympic Scholarship Program, a scholarship program for Olympic athletes named after his late son; $1.4 million for a statewide forestry biofuel collaborative; plus earmarks for four hospitals, one airport, four police agencies and six harbor projects.
Stupak, an alumnus of Northwestern Michigan College, sponsored the lone congressional earmark for Grand Traverse County.
Stupak's earmark will maintain a three-year study of NMC's harbor renovation project as a funding priority for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
"We had the issue of Congressman Camp not supporting earmarks last year, but he's been very supportive of this project," said NMC President Tim Nelson.
Nelson was in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to lobby for continued support of the harbor project and hopes to return to Washington next year to push for harbor construction funding.
Nelson declined to speculate on possible disadvantages for NMC if Camp continues to swear off earmarks.
"If the earmarks are still an issue, there are other ways he can help," Nelson said. "It will be our job to find other support mechanisms if we feel federal funding is still a good source of funds."
Hoekstra, a Holland Republican, sponsored or co-sponsored 17 earmarks worth $6.2 million for his district. Projects include funding for the Benzie Bus and the Cadillac Wexford Transit Authority, plus five other bus systems; eight harbor projects including dredging for Frankfort and Manistee; a bio-diesel start-up grant; and $1.4 million for an offshore wind demonstration project.
