The 2009 defense authorization bill headed for the House floor this week has already raised a ruckus over earmarks, and there’s a lot to get excited about: 541 worth $9.9 billion, a healthy increase from the 449 earmarks worth $7.7 disclosed in last year’s authorization bill.

The bulk of the earmarked money—$7.4 billion—would go to just five projects:

• Boeing’s C-17 Globemaster cargo plane ($3.9 billion);
• Northrop Grumman’s LPD-17 ship ($1.8 billion);
• Lockheed Martin’s F-22 Raptor ($523 million);
• The Northrop Grumman/General Dynamics Virginia Class Submarine ($722 million);
• Lockheed Martin’s P-3 Orion ($448 million).

All of these programs are repeat earmark recipients, and most also picked up funding in the Senate version of the bill. An exception is the P-3, a 40-year old Navy plane built to bomb submarines, many of them based at the Naval Air Station at Whidbey Island in Washington state. Representative Rick Larsen (D-WA) says he requested the earmark to repair fatigue cracks found in the P-3’s wings that caused the Navy to ground 25 percent of the fleet in December.

Interesting items abound among the lesser-priced earmarks as well:

• A $10 million gift for the National World War II museum in New Orleans, requested by Rodney Alexander (R-LA), William J. Jefferson (D-LA) and Charlie Melancon (D-LA). The museum, founded in 1991 by historian Stephen Ambrose, launched a $300 million expansion project this year.
• An $88 million request from Jerry Costello (D-IL) and John Shimkus (R-IL) for C-40 planes at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois. Richard Durbin (D-IL) joined the two representatives in obtaining a $265 million earmark in 2005 to purchase three C-40s for Scott AFB, the largest employer south of Springfield.
• Another $8 million for a border wall in the San Diego district of Duncan Hunter (R-CA). Hunter has secured several previous earmarks for the fence, which the Department of Homeland Security says will cost $127 million—more than ten times its initial cost estimate

The bill generated attention this week after an amendment was discovered that would nullify a recent presidential directive to include earmarks in legislative language, rather than tacking them on the end of the bill’s report. Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-MO) said the directive would limit the Defense Department's “flexibility” and do “serious damage” to its relationship with the committee. Apparently DoD needs plenty of room (and earmarks) to stretch its legs.