Citizens Against Government Waste released their annual summary of pork-barrel spending Wednesday, shining light on $16.5 billion in earmarks for projects the watchdog group deems unnecessary. “[Members of Congress] have noticed it’s popular to posture as an anti-earmaker,” Tom Schatz, CAGW president said upon the summary's release. “Unfortunately ... most members of Congress still aren’t willing to eliminate the practice.” Of the billions spent for pork projects, $490 million came from Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), who was named as one of the top “Oinkers,” or pork-pursuers, of 2010. Democratic Senators also made it onto the watchdog’s radar. Tom Harkin (Iowa) and Robert Byrd (W. Va.) were both taken to task for seeking approximately $7,000,000 for projects named after them. Arlen Specter (Penn.) was chastised for securing $200,000 for a “small business incubator and multipurpose center.” A bipartisan push by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-Texas) and Rep. Ciro Rodriguez (D-Texas) also came under fire. The two Texans were grilled for an allocation of $693,000 for “beef improvement research.” Hawaii came in at number one for the most pork spent per capita, with a projected $251.78 for each member of the state’s population. Alaska, who earned the dubious top spot last year, dropped to 4th on the list. Although CAGW acknowledged that there has been a 15.5 percent decrease in pork-barrel spending from 2009, the organization notes that improvements still need to be made, both in the reduction of spending and overall transparency.