Original article published at TheNationalDesk.com.

WASHINGTON (TND) — Hawaiian Residents are questioning the hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarks congressional Hawaiian lawmakers received that should have been prioritized for more vital projects.

CEO of OpenTheBooks Adam Andrzejewski joined The National Desk’s Jan Jeffcoat Friday to discuss the issue.

“So our auditors at Open The Books went through the 106 earmarks that were green-lit in the budget bill at the end of last year. There were about $600 million doled out on those earmarks and $0 as far as we can tell went to any entity within the town of Lahaina. Now, they were based within those earmarks and this is why we've always said, at OpenTheBooks, that earmarks are the currency of corruption in Congress; because they're misdirected resources oftentimes.”

The Hawaiian delegation has already requested $2 billion in earmarks for 2024.

“So $1 million actually was directed to the Hawaiian macadamia nut project, $64 million went to the billion dollar boondoggle on Honolulu for their rail train project. That project has been scheduled for delivery at $5 million. It was supposed to be done back in 2020. It's not going to be done till 2033 at a cost of $21 billion.”