WASHINGTON — Sen. Daniel K. Inouye has never been embarrassed about his renowned ability to secure lots of federal spending for Hawai'i — what critics sometimes deride as pork — and new figures show he hasn't lost his touch.

An analysis of federal data showed the Democratic senator secured funding for $432 million in "earmarks" or specific projects for Hawai'i during 2005. That equals $339 for each resident of the state, the second highest per capita spending in the nation.

Only Alaska got more per person. Sen. Ted Stevens, a Republican and chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee in 2005, got funding for pet projects worth $1,044 for each Alaskan.

Inouye, the No. 2 Democrat on the powerful committee and a close friend of Stevens, said he was just doing his job.

"It is my responsibility to do my best to ensure that the needs of Hawai'i's residents are brought to the attention of Congress and, to the greatest extent possible, addressed and satisfied," he says.

After Democrats took control of the Senate following the November election, Inouye stayed on the Appropriations Committee and became chairman of the committee's subcommittee on defense — where he has a big say over the huge Pentagon budget.

For decades, senior members of the Appropriations Committee from both parties have used "earmarks" — money for specific projects or programs added to spending bills at a lawmaker's request — to direct federal money to their home states. An unwritten rule distributed 60 percent of the money to the party in charge and 40 percent to the minority party, former House Appropriations Committee staffer Jim Dyer says.

POWER OF POSITION

This month, the White House Office of Management and Budget released the most comprehensive database of earmarks ever, listing nearly 15,000 of them worth nearly $19 billion, in an attempt to set a baseline for future spending.

A USA Today analysis of a that data illustrates the clout of top appropriators.

Stevens, who is now the top Republican on the defense appropriations subcommittee, says he uses earmarks to fund programs in Alaska because the budget prepared by federal agencies doesn't adequately meet the state's needs, such as water supplies and healthcare for Native Alaskan villages.

"We've done a lot with earmarks to address needs that other people don't know about or care about," he says.

Earmark critics, such as Tom Schatz of the group Citizens Against Government Waste, say they unfairly reward powerful members of Congress. "It's wasted money, regardless of how you categorize it," he says.

CHANGES DEMANDED

After a bribes-for-earmarks scheme and other ethics scandals that helped Democrats win control of Congress, the White House and the new Democratic leaders demanded changes. Both say they want to cut earmark spending in half for the 2008 fiscal year.

Ranking third in per capita spending at $262 per resident was West Virginia, home to the longtime top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee and its current chairman, Robert Byrd.

By contrast, North Carolina, which had no senator on the committee in 2005, barely got $25 per resident — the least of any state.

Despite an overhaul in the earmarks process for this year, there is no talk of changing how the money is distributed. Dyer, now a lobbyist for Clark & Weinstock, said, "The system is constructed to make sure the senior guys are making the value judgments. ... I think you will see similar patterns in the future."