The database was among the investigative projects highlighted at this year's IRE conference in Baltimore.
A quick search for earmarks secured by U.S. Rep. Todd Platts, R-York County -- who was recently appointed to the House Armed Services Committee -- shows that he helped get a few million for military contractors General Dynamics (which has a location in Red Lion) and Gichner Shelter Systems of Dallastown.
Two Pennsylvania lawmakers -- U.S. Rep. John P. Murtha (No. 1) and Sen. Arlen Specter (No. 5) -- were among the top five members of Congress who received the most campaign money between 2003-08 from donors at companies with 2008 defense earmarks, according to the Times.
Before looking up your own lawmaker or local company, read the directions on How to Use This Database, which details what information in the database is incomplete or was unavailable.
What you can find is how much 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 or nonprofit that got an earmark in the 2008 defense bill. Or browse lawmakers or earmark recipients by state.
There's also a database of earmarks in the 2007 defense bill.
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