WASHINGTON – Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., has asked Congress to set aside $3.5 million to help Navistar develop hybrid military vehicles at the truck company’s Fort Wayne plant.

The request is one of 31 he submitted to the Appropriations Committee as it begins weighing the lawmakers’ bids for pet projects in their states.

Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., has said he will not request money for projects he singles out.

The requests, often called earmarks, have come under increasing criticism as the number of requests has multiplied and as the federal deficit has expanded.

Lugar said the money for Navistar would help hydraulic hybrid-vehicle technology so military vehicles could be made faster for the Army.

"Deployment of such vehicles would allow the Army to improve fuel economy and performance and reduce the lifecycle costs of military vehicles," a description on Lugar’s Web page says.

For the first time, members of Congress are required to post their requests on their Web sites.

Lugar submitted 18 northeast Indiana projects to the Appropriations Committee subcommittees. One subcommittee’s deadline, however, is later this week, so Lugar’s full list is likely to be larger.

In addition to the Navistar project, Lugar asked the committee to approve:

•$140,000 for Trine University in Angola to set up online engineering classes.

•$1 million to help Manchester College develop a pharmacy program.

•$3 million for Alcoa in Auburn to develop lightweight survivable structures for military vehicles.

•Nearly $1.4 million for downtown curb, sidewalks and ramps in Angola.

•$2.5 million for the National Tooling and Machine Foundation to provide training for the metalworking industry.

•$340,000 so Huntington County can pay for an environmental study on the proposal to extend the Hoosier Heartland to the Interstate 69-Interstate 469 intersection.

•$450,000 to help the University of Saint Francis buy equipment for its Crown Point nursing lab satellite campus.

•$200,000 to help the American Red Cross of Northeast Indiana expand its building.

•$149,800 for science lab equipment at the University of Saint Francis.

•$228,700 for computers at the University of Saint Francis library.

•$596,057 to buy palm and fingerprint identification equipment for the Fort Wayne Police Department.

•$909,300 for science lab equipment at Manchester College.

•$522,500 for a large snowblower for the Fort Wayne International Airport.

In all, Lugar asked for $254.6 million to pay for projects on the wish lists of Hoosier cities, hospitals, schools and businesses.

His requests are among thousands that members of Congress are submitting to the committees that allocate the portion of the federal budget that’s not spoken for.