Though President George W. Bush's most recent State of the Union address attacked congressional earmarks, Penn State relies on them to fund multiple projects, university officials said.
Penn State will receive $18.6 million in congressional earmarks from various state senators and representatives for 10 projects ranging from agriculture to defense during the 2008 fiscal year, according to a 2008 database released in February by non-partisan watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense.
Geoff Rushton, a Penn State spokesman, wrote in an e-mail that Penn State requests funding for projects through earmarks.
"We go through an intense internal process to ensure that every earmark Penn State receives is consistent with the university's mission, is a good use of taxpayer money and is supported by the federal agency through which the money would flow," he wrote.
Earmarks are sent through the U.S. House and Senate as attachments to appropriation bills for specific projects, but the requests for money are generally not reviewed on the floors.
The process the university goes through to request earmarks includes faculty involvement at several levels, Rushton wrote.
"Penn State faculty are required to clear their requests with their deans and associate deans, who then coordinate with the senior vice president for research and the director of federal relations to determine how best to prioritize projects," he wrote.
Several of the earmarks for 2008 focus on defense projects, and Rushton wrote that Penn State is second in the nation for defense-funded research, adding that No. 1 is Johns Hopkins University.
Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., provided the bulk of the earmarks to the Penn State Electro-Optics Center, with $8 million for four defense projects: advanced night vision sensors, improved sensor systems, lasers for Navy applications and modular payload systems, according to the earmark database.
Another earmark included in this year's budget is $1 million for a multi-year program to develop and demonstrate clean and efficient diesel engine technology, which will eliminate the need to trade fuel efficiency for clean air, Rushton wrote.
Additionally, the earmark database shows that the largest sum of money for a single project, $5.6 million, was designated by Rep. Tim Holden, D-Pa., for the Penn State Cancer Institute at the Hershey Medical Center to fund cancer treatment and research.
Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa., has secured two earmarks for Penn State agricultural research, including $587,000 for a milk safety project, according to the earmark database. The project will address the threats of natural or intentional contamination of the nation's milk supply, Rushton wrote.
Peterson said the earmarks he helps secure for Penn State agricultural research are important because they support the state's agricultural community.
"Some of the earmarks that are criticized I agree with, but in agriculture, the earmarks make priorities of where the agricultural research should be done," he said.
Peterson said he is well aware of the concern surrounding the use of earmarks, but said he doesn't abuse his power to procure earmarks for his constituents.
"If everybody used earmarks like we did, I don't think there'd be much criticism of them," he said. "... I'm not going to apologize for the earmarks I have gotten for my district ... We've been very careful about what we ask for earmarks, and we're very proud of our successes."
