Citizens Against Government Waste published its annual list of congressional earmarks (they actually call it the Congressional Pig Book list).

Of course, what one person calls wasteful spending, another person calls bringing home the bacon, and now that Democrats are in the majority, New York was supposed to be getting more federal money.

The state made out with a good portion, particularly in the Catskills, where Maurice Hinchey brought in $43.7 million.

Here is a list of what some members from New York, and a few from elsewhere, brought their districts, according to the list. (It's in numbers of millions):  read more »

NBC News Forum host Jay DeDapper pressed freshman Representative John Hall on the Iraq war during the taping of the show today.

DeDapper notes that Hall and others won their seats in 2006 in part because of sweeping antiwar sentiment, but as he faces reelection, he may have to explain why the country is still engaged in combat in Iraq, even though Democrats have a majority in Congress.

The show airs Sunday, but here's a segment from a transcript the studio sent over:

DeDAPPER:…Democrats, including you, were elected to Congress in 2006, a lot of people believe because there was a public sentiment to get out of Iraq.

Rep. HALL: There still is.

DeDAPPER: You're not out of Iraq. The Democrats haven't been able to do
that.

More after the jump.  read more »

Yes, Isac Weinberger spends most of his work day at the D.O.T. calling political reporters - without the kind of retribution you'd expect - but he knows how to work the party circuit.

Here he is, on the right, with political operative Yoel Lefkowitz on the left.  The man in the middle is none other than George Soros, who hosted a fund-raiser in his Manhattan for freshman congressman John Hall.

Oh, to be Isac.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. endorses Hillary Clinton. [CNN]  read more »

John Hall, a freshman Democratic congressmember from the Hudson Valley, is having a fund-raiser at the home of Democratic super-donor George Soros on December 17, and Representative Charlie Rangel will be in attendance.Tickets start at $500.

The invite notes that Hall is a Democrat facing a tough re-election, and:

“won election by the closest margin of any N.Y. race last year. He was on Karl Rove’s now notorious target list and is already facing a multi-millionaire G.O.P. opponent.”

Representative John Hall, a Democrat whose district is in the Hudson Valley, told me last night he is concerned that illegal immigrants who obtain a driver's license under Eliot Spitzer's plan could use it as a "breeder document to secure more documentation."

Hall, who was in town for the Empire State Pride Agenda fund-raiser at the Hilton, told me:

"I'm concerned with what kind of security measures will be in place to ensure that people receiving licenses are who they say they are and that it won't be used as a breeder document to secure more documentation. My wife was assistant state attorney general in Tennessee when they did the same thing and their experience in Tennessee was that more undocumented immigrants came to the state specifically because they knew they could receive a driver's license where they couldn't in other states. So, it does increase the traffic in the states that choose to do this. I haven't made up my mind yet but I'm concerned that the procedures to protect our security."

Hall did say that he's undecided about Spitzer's plan, but the concerns he raised are among the most critical and detailed yet from a Democrat in New York's delegation.

Hall is one of the three freshman Democratic congressman in the state that Spitzer, as head of the party here, has to help re-elect. (The others are Kirsten Gillibrand, who opposes the plan, and Michael Arcuri, whose office hasn't returned several messages about the issue.)

Representative Anthony Weiner, a likely mayoral candidate, has also been critical of the plan, saying in a statement that it raised "legitimate problems."

If you’re following where everybody stands on Eliot Spitzer’s plan to allow illegal immigrants to obtain a New York State driver’s license, update your score cards.

Adolfo Carrion supports it. Speaking on NY1 News last night, Carrion said, “I support this initiative until there is a national, rational response to this, which I think we need to deal with.” Earlier, Carrion had gone with a statement that was less specific.

On the show, Carrion described Spitzer plan as a “limited response” and a “practical solution,” which Democrats are grappling with. Carrion said Spitzer “is going to take a hit, and he’s taking a hit. And there are Democrats in this town, in this very city and across the state, who feel now that they’re painted into a corner.”

Among the Democrats who, as far as I'm aware, still haven't taken a position on the issue: Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer and Representatives John Hall, Mike Arcuri and Tim Bishop.

If anyone knows anything about where they stand, please let me know.

In January, New York sent four freshmen to congress. So far, they have authored a total of 23 bills.

Nine came from Michael Arcuri upstate. Another nine came from John Hall in the Hudson Valley. And the last five came from Kirsten Gillibrand from Glens Falls.

Yvette Clarke of Brooklyn, so far, has not authored any. (After a reader pointed this out to me, I checked it on Library of Congress web site.) I emailed Clarke's office to ask if that was accurate. A spokesperson from Clarke's office, Vanessa Milara, emailed to say, “Yes that site is accurate. She has not introduced legislation, however she has co-sponsored a variety of legislation."

Kieran Michael Lalor, a former marine who served in Iraq, has launched an exploratory committee to run the 19th congressional district in the Hudson Valley, which Hall represents. Among his complaints:

Hall's campaign was supported by the likes of Susan Sarandon, who is so radical she was uninvited to a 2003 event at the baseball Hall of Fame because she was actively undermining the morale of American troops in Iraq. Musician Bonnie Raitt, who in 1999 traveled to Cuba to play for Castro and bash the United States in the Karl Marx Theatre, played a concert to raise money for the Hall Campaign.

Here is singer-turned Democratic congressman John Hall discussing his opposition to the troop surge in Iraq. "No amount of wrongs is going to make the president's policy towards Iraq right," he said.

And here is newly-elected upstate Democrat Michael Arcuri: "I think victory in Iraq means bringing as many of our troops home alive as possible."