Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) recently drew up a list of projects in 1998 appropriations bills which benefit local interests but have no valid national purpose. He estimates there are $10 billion in "pork-barrel" projects included in these spending bills.

Here are a few of the items he found:

• Vermont is getting $2 million for the restoration of a covered bridge.

• Another $1 million will go to the University of Hawaii for the study of coral reefs.

• The Fort Keough lab in Montana is will get $250,000 to fund an animal physiologist.

• Kansas City, Mo., will get $7.1 million for rehabilitiation and infrastructure work on its Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and its Jazz Museum.

The bill funding the Department of Agriculture includes such "vital" projects as $7.9 million to plan and design a Biocontrol and Insect Rearing Lab and a National Center for Natural Products in Mississippi, $4.8 million for the U.S. Vegetable Lab in South Carolina, and $6 million for a National Center for Cool and Cold Water Aquaculture in West Virginia. All three of these states have senators on the Appropriations Committee, critics mention.