FAQ
Congressional Earmarks — Frequently Asked Questions
What are earmarks, how do CPF and CDS work, and how does FFID help you find funded projects before they become RFPs.
What Are Congressional Earmarks?
What are congressional earmarks?
Congressional earmarks are provisions in federal appropriations legislation that direct a specific sum of money to a named recipient for a named project. Unlike competitive grants, earmarks bypass the normal agency review process — a member of Congress sponsors the project and writes the funding directly into the appropriations bill. The two active programs are Community Project Funding (CPF) in the House and Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) in the Senate.
What is Community Project Funding (CPF)?
Community Project Funding is the House of Representatives' earmark program, restored in FY2022 after a decade-long moratorium. Each House member may request up to 10 CPF projects per cycle for their district. Members must certify no financial conflict of interest, all requests are publicly disclosed before the vote, and projects must have a clear community benefit. CPF spans infrastructure, water, housing, health, education, and transportation.
What is Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS)?
Congressionally Directed Spending is the Senate's earmark program, also restored in FY2022. Senators submit CDS requests to the Senate Appropriations Committee for projects in their state. Like CPF, all requests are publicly disclosed. CDS projects tend to carry larger dollar amounts on average than House CPF projects and span the same federal agency landscape.
When were congressional earmarks banned, and when were they restored?
Earmarks were largely banned in 2011 following political backlash over high-profile spending scandals — most notably the "Bridge to Nowhere" in Alaska. After a decade-long moratorium, both chambers restored earmarks in FY2022 under new transparency rules: all requests must be disclosed publicly before the vote, members must certify no financial conflict of interest, and projects must directly benefit their district or state.
How are congressional earmarks different from competitive federal grants?
Competitive grants (such as those listed on Grants.gov) require organizations to submit proposals and be selected through a scored merit review. Earmarks skip that process entirely — Congress designates the recipient and the amount in legislation before any agency involvement. There is no grant application. This means funded recipients are often identified 12–18 months before the agency posts an RFP on SAM.gov.
Who can request a congressional earmark?
Only members of Congress can formally submit earmark requests. However, any eligible organization — cities, counties, universities, nonprofits, public utilities, water districts, transit agencies, hospitals — can ask their representative or senator to sponsor a CPF or CDS request on their behalf. Lobbying and government affairs firms frequently help clients structure and submit these requests to the appropriate subcommittee.
The Data
What fiscal years does FFID cover?
FFID covers FY2022 through FY2026 — the complete restored earmark era. That is 97,761 projects across all 12 appropriations subcommittees, both chambers, and all 50 states plus DC and territories. The database includes both enacted projects (signed into law) and requested projects (publicly disclosed but not yet enacted).
What is the difference between a requested and enacted earmark?
A requested earmark has been submitted by a member to the Appropriations Committee and publicly disclosed, but has not yet been signed into law. An enacted earmark has been passed by Congress and signed by the President — the funding is confirmed. Enacted projects represent committed federal dollars flowing to named recipients. Requested projects may or may not survive the appropriations process. FFID tracks both, clearly labeled by status.
Which federal agencies fund the most earmarks?
By project count, the top agencies are the Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the Department of Transportation (DOT), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Infrastructure projects — water systems, roads, flood control, transit — dominate earmark spending across fiscal years.
Which states receive the most earmark funding?
Earmark distribution broadly correlates with congressional delegation size and committee seniority. States with large House and Senate delegations — Texas, California, New York, Florida, and Pennsylvania — consistently rank near the top by project count. States with members on Appropriations subcommittees tend to receive above-average allocations. FFID's state pages show total funding, project counts, and top recipients for all 50 states.
Where does the data come from?
FFID normalizes data published directly by the House Appropriations Committee (CPF enacted and requested lists) and the Senate Appropriations Committee (CDS enacted and requested lists). Data is ingested automatically every Monday. No secondary sources — only official congressional documents. See the methodology page for the full pipeline.
Using FFID
How far in advance does FFID show earmarks before SAM.gov?
On average 12–18 months. Congress typically passes appropriations in late December. FFID ingests the funded project list within days. The receiving agency must then budget, staff, and draft procurement documents before posting on SAM.gov — a process that typically takes one to two years. FFID users see the funded recipient and project details from the start of that window.
How is FFID different from SAM.gov and USASpending.gov?
SAM.gov shows RFPs after agencies have budgeted and prepared procurement documents — typically 12–18 months after an earmark is enacted. USASpending.gov shows awards after contracts are signed. FFID shows the funding the moment Congress acts, before either downstream system has any data. The three tools serve different points in the same pipeline: FFID (funding signal) → SAM.gov (procurement posting) → USASpending.gov (contract award).
How often is FFID data updated?
The pipeline runs every Monday. New appropriations data is ingested within 7 days of official publication by the House or Senate Appropriations Committees. The database expands as new fiscal year data is published.
Can I export earmark data from FFID?
Yes. All paid subscribers can export up to 5,000 rows per download as CSV, with no monthly cap. Exports include every searchable field: project title, recipient name, dollar amount, state, fiscal year, project status, agency, and member sponsor. Trial users can export up to 50 rows per download.
Industries & Use Cases
What industries benefit most from congressional earmark intelligence?
The industries with the most exposure to earmark-funded projects are: architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) firms tracking infrastructure projects before the RFP; environmental services companies focused on water, wastewater, and remediation work; transportation firms following roads, bridges, transit, and port projects; healthcare organizations monitoring hospital and community health center funding; higher education tracking research and facility grants; and government affairs firms tracking client and competitor positioning across all sectors.
How do lobbying and government affairs firms use FFID?
Government affairs professionals use FFID to track earmark requests for their clients, monitor competitor organizations' funding, analyze which members are sponsoring which types of projects, benchmark client requests against comparable jurisdictions, and identify prospective clients — organizations that just received earmarks and may need procurement support, advocacy, or grant consulting.
Can I find earmarks by recipient organization name?
Yes. FFID's search supports free-text queries across recipient names, project titles, descriptions, and member names. You can find every earmark ever directed to a specific hospital, university, transit agency, or city — across all fiscal years — and see the sponsoring member, dollar amount, and current status.
Search 97,761 earmark projects
FY2022–FY2026 · House CPF · Senate CDS · All 50 states · Updated every Monday
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