(CNSNews.com) - The House of Representatives tucked $277.9 million worth of earmarks - items in a spending bill usually designated for a congressman's district or state - into the appropriations bill it passed before the July 4 break.

That number is a 122 percent increase over the amount spent on earmarks in last year's bill, according to the watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW).

The appropriations bill in question is the Fiscal 2009 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act, or simply Labor/HHS. "In typical Congressional fashion, the Labor/HHS bill is loaded with pork projects and wasteful spending from both Democrats and Republicans," the CAGW said in its release.

But Dave Helfert, press secretary for CAGW's top "porker," i.e., earmark spender, Rep. Neal Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) - who had more dollars earmarked for himself than any other member in Congress - said that CAGW's earmark assessment missed the mark.

"We welcome the praise," said Helfert, responding to CAGW's charge that Abercrombie was the top spender. "It's hardly anything to be ashamed of."

Unlike other budget items, earmarks are not requested from specific government agencies and presented in a hearing before a congressional committee. That means they might not receive the scrutiny that the more traditional expenditures receive.

Helfert said that there is scrutiny, because once an earmark is put into a bill, it can be cut out at any time.

"Different subcommittee chairman have different ways of handling earmarks on appropriations bills," he said. "Some have chosen to do it through subcommittee markups. Some don't do it until they come to the floor."

Leslie Paige, CAGW's media director, maintained that earmarks were "underground" spending because there was no formal hearing process for them.

"How the heck are we supposed to know if it's in the actual interest of the country without a hearing?" she said.

"If Mr. Abercrombie is so convinced that his projects are in the national interest, then I would challenge him to put them up for scrutiny and weigh them against other members of Congress, and then we'll make a decision. It's just a scramble for pork," Paige said.

The top three CAGW "porkers" were Abercrombie, with $168.5 million; Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), with $161.3 million; and Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.), with $148.5 million.

CAGW reported a total of 1,370 earmarks worth $618.8 million in the spending bill, which is one of 12 yearly bills that make up the federal budget.

Among the earmarks highlighted by CAGW were the following:

-- $25 million by 30 House members for the National Writing Project, which the Department of Education (DoE) did not request because $3 billion already exists to improve the writing skills of teachers.

-- $175,000 by Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Ca.), Howard "Buck" McKeon (R-Ca.), and Mary Bono (R-Ca.) for the Autry National Center for the American West, which "explores the experiences and perceptions of the diverse peoples of the American West," according to its Web site.

-- $150,000 by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) for the American Ballet Theatre in New York for "educational activities." The American Ballet Theatre has already received $28 million from private fundraising.

-- $100,000 by House appropriator Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) for the Toledo GROWS High School Garden Learning Initiative, a "community gardening outreach program."

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