How to use this database

This database shows who received earmarks and who gave them in the 2008 defense bill.

It also shows how much money companies and their employees gave to lobbyists and lawmakers who helped deliver the earmarks.

You can search by lawmaker name or by the name of a company that got an earmark in the 2008 defense bill. You can also browse lawmakers or earmark recipients by state.

Lawmaker search

A lawmaker search shows every earmark that a member of Congress claims credit for in the bill or, in some cases, in a news release, including the dollar amount, all the recipients we were able to identify and the description of the earmark that appears in the bill.

More information on that earmark is available if you click on the "Earmark" column, including a longer description from a congressional news release.

You'll also see a list of 2008 earmark recipients whose employees or political action committees gave campaign contributions to a lawmaker since the start of 2003. The lawmaker did not necessarily help all of those who contributed.

Recipient search

A search of recipients shows the name of a company or other entity that was given an earmark. It shows the amount of all earmarks to that entity, how much was spent on lobbying last year and how much those affiliated with the recipient gave to the campaigns of sitting members of Congress since 2003.

House members are required to disclose the names of entities that benefit from the earmarks. Senators didn't pass such a rule, so they don't have to reveal who benefits. When a senator named an earmark recipient in a news release, that information is included in the Favor Factory database. Also, The Times collected campaign contribution and lobbying data only for companies and select nonprofits. Lobbying and contribution data for most colleges, hospitals, business consortiums and military units were not compiled.

Whenever possible, businesses receiving earmarks are listed by the unit getting the contract. Lawmakers generally give earmarks to businesses in their home states, even though company headquarters may be elsewhere. In these cases, use the symbol (HQ) at the top of the results page to link to the parent company.

Contributions

All contributions are listed under the name of the recipient or its parent company. If you don't see a list of contributions, click on the link next to "Parent" near the top of the page.

Lobbying

All lobbying data are listed under the name of the recipient or its parent company. If you don't see a list of lobbyists, click on the link next to "Parent" near the top of the page.

You can click on the name of the lobbyist to see more detail, including the purpose of the lobbying.

Dollar amounts spent on lobbying are generally rounded to the closest $20,000 when lobbyists report to the Federal Election Commission. If a report said that less than $10,000 was spent, The Times rounded that number to $10,000.

Earmark amounts in the database may not always reflect final costs. Also, a company and a federal agency sometimes might agree to modify an earmark.