CAGW Names Rep. Mica Porker of the Month

Washington, D.C. - Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today named Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) its July Porker of the Month for his opposition to an earmark ban and defense of earmarks.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, on July 8, Rep. Mica said, “There’s no way in hell I would support banning earmarks … That’s our job, getting elected and making decisions. Yes, there are bad earmarks, like there are bad members of Congress. And what you do is get rid of them.”

CAGW’s 2008 Congressional Pig Book uncovered 11,610 pork-barrel projects worth $17.2 billion in the 12 fiscal year 2008 appropriations bills. Contrary to what Rep. Mica thinks, all earmarks are bad because they are congressionally targeted expenditures which bypass the normal budget rules and are unaccountable. The 2008 Pig Book included $3,000,000 for The First Tee; $1,950,000 for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service; and $188,000 for the Lobster Institute in Maine.

Earmarking is not Congress’ “job,” as Rep. Mica claims. Before the 1980s, Congress would fund general grant programs and let federal and state agencies select individual recipients through a competitive process or formula. The House and Senate Appropriations Committees named specific projects only when they had been the subject of hearings and approved by authorizing committees. Members of Congress with local concerns would lobby the president and federal agencies for consideration. The normal budget process, which is aimed at preventing abuse and allocating resources on the basis of merit and need, has become a sideshow in the scramble by individual appropriations committee members to pick winners and losers based on seniority.

Earmarking invites corrupt behavior. Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham’s indictment and conviction (R-Calif.) for earmarking in return for bribes is the most notorious example. In June, it was revealed that former Congressman John Sweeney (R-N.Y.) is being investigated by the Justice Department for his role in directing earmarks to a lobbyist. On July 2, The Washington Times ran an opinion piece that documented how a program to combat improvised explosive devices in Iraq was earmarked to an inexperienced contractor who had bribed and donated to members of Congress. That program was a failure that cost not just tax dollars, but American lives.


The concept of an earmark ban has gained traction in the wake of these abuses. In March, a Senate amendment to the 2009 budget resolution to impose a year-long moratorium on congressional earmarks was co-sponsored by Sens. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), and Barack Obama (D-Ill.), among others, but lost 29-71. Forty Representatives and six Senators have made personal pledges not to request any earmarks this year. An earmark ban will allow members to reform the appropriations process, devote more attention to critical national issues, and help keep money in taxpayers’ wallets instead of diverting it to Washington where it can be converted into pork.

For opposing an earmark ban or moratorium and defending the out of control earmarking process, CAGW names Rep. John Mica its July 2008 Porker of the Month.

Citizens Against Government Waste is the nation’s largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government. Porker of the Month is a dubious honor given to lawmakers, government officials, and political candidates who have shown a blatant disregard for the interests of taxpayers.

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Our nation has not always lived up to its ideals, yet those ideals have never ceased to guide us. They expose our flaws, and lead us to mend them. We are the beneficiaries of the work of the generations before us and it is each generation's responsibility to continue that work. - Laura Bush

God is a conservative -

Ecclesiastes 10:2--"A wise man's heart inclines him to the right, but a fool's heart to the left."

CAGW Names Senators Who Voted to Kill DeMint-McCain
Earmark Moratorium Porkers of the Month


Washington, D.C. - Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today named all 71 senators who voted against an amendment to impose a one-year earmark moratorium in the fiscal year 2009 Budget Resolution March Porkers of the Month. The amendment was offered by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and had fourteen bipartisan co-sponsors including all three presidential candidates.

As Sen. DeMint has said, “The earmark process allows politicians to fund pet projects based on political power instead of merit. Earmarks are rarely subject to public hearings or oversight, and they invite the kind of corruption that has sent lawmakers to jail.”

In addition to inviting fraudulent behavior, earmarking diverts lawmakers’ attention from important national business, like saving Medicare and Social Security for future generations. Many congressional offices have one or more staffers dedicated to procuring earmarks.

A year-long moratorium is a critical step forward to stopping Congress’s addiction to earmarking. It would give members time to reform the process, devote more effort to critical issues, and help keep money in taxpayers’ wallets instead of being diverted to Washington where it can be converted into pork. In fiscal 2008, pork-barrel spending ballooned to 11,612 projects costing $17.2 billion.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) opposed the ban as “unrealistic” and even went so far as to erroneously claim that earmarking “has been going in this country for 230-some-odd years,” and that “The Founding Fathers would be cringing to hear people talking about eliminating earmarks.”

To the contrary, the Founding Fathers are rolling in their graves right now to hear their legacy so completely distorted. In 1796, Thomas Jefferson predicted the slippery slope of the federal government funding local road projects when he said, “it will be a scene of eternal scramble among the members, who can get the most money wasted in their State; and they will always get most who are meanest.” In 1822, President James Monroe argued that federal money should be limited “to great national works only, since if it were unlimited it would be liable to abuse and might be productive of evil.”

Today, Appropriations Committee members arbitrarily pick winners and losers by earmarking funds for specific recipients. Rank and file members, backed by an army of lobbyists, bypass authorizing committees and lobby appropriators directly for pet projects. This unrivaled power over pork explains why Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), an appropriator, self-interestedly said about the amendment: “It's just such a crock. This is such political hype.”

For protecting their personal pork projects at the expense of the national interest, CAGW names the 71 senators who voted against a year-long earmark moratorium its March 2008 Porkers of the Month.

Citizens Against Government Waste is the nation’s largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government. Porker of the Month is a dubious honor given to lawmakers, government officials, and political candidates who have shown a blatant disregard for the interests of taxpayers




Akaka (D-HI)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bennett (R-UT)
Biden (D-DE)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Bond (R-MO)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Byrd (D-WV)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Cardin (D-MD)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Cochran (R-MS)
Coleman (R-MN)
Collins (R-ME)
Conrad (D-ND)
Craig (R-ID)
Crapo (R-ID)
Dodd (D-CT)
Domenici (R-NM)
Dorgan (D-ND) Durbin (D-IL)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hagel (R-NE)
Harkin (D-IA)
Hatch (R-UT)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Inouye (D-HI)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Kohl (D-WI)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Lugar (R-IN)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL) Nelson (D-NE)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Roberts (R-KS)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Salazar (D-CO)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schumer (D-NY)
Shelby (R-AL)
Smith (R-OR)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (R-PA)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Stevens (R-AK)
Tester (D-MT)
Vitter (R-LA)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Warner (R-VA)
Webb (D-VA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wicker (R-MS)
Wyden (D-OR)


There's a list of people who need be voted out of office. So greedy that they couldn't take ONE YEAR off from porking the people. I'm highly embarrassed to see that both Senators from Oregon (Widen - flaming liberal and Smith - RINO par extraordinaire) are on the list.

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Our nation has not always lived up to its ideals, yet those ideals have never ceased to guide us. They expose our flaws, and lead us to mend them. We are the beneficiaries of the work of the generations before us and it is each generation's responsibility to continue that work. - Laura Bush

God is a conservative -

Ecclesiastes 10:2--"A wise man's heart inclines him to the right, but a fool's heart to the left."

This came up for vote in 2006. The results:
Republican Ayes 199 Noes 24 NV 8
Democratic Ayes 45 Noes 147 Noes 9
Independent Ayes 1
TOTALS Ayes 245 Noes 171 Noes 17

The bill did little to limit earmarks, but it did require increased accountability for them.

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Our nation has not always lived up to its ideals, yet those ideals have never ceased to guide us. They expose our flaws, and lead us to mend them. We are the beneficiaries of the work of the generations before us and it is each generation's responsibility to continue that work. - Laura Bush

God is a conservative -

Ecclesiastes 10:2--"A wise man's heart inclines him to the right, but a fool's heart to the left."

2009 PORK ALERT

Pork Alert: Commerce/Justice/Science

Washington, D.C. - Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today released its preliminary analysis of the House version of the Fiscal 2009 Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Appropriations Act. CAGW has documented 1,123 projects at a cost of $409.8 million. The top five porkers are CJS Appropriations Subcommittee member Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) with $9.95 million; CJS Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.) with $9.7 million; CJS Appropriations Subcommittee member C.A “Dutch” Ruppersberger (D-Md.); with $8 million; CJS Appropriations Subcommittee member Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) with $7.9 million and House appropriator Ralph Regula (R-Ohio) with $7.7 million.



Pork Alert: Energy and Water

Washington, D.C. - Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today released its preliminary analysis of the House version of the Fiscal 2009 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act. This year, there are 655 projects, costing taxpayers a total of $821 million.


The top five porkers for Energy and Water are Rep. Stephanie Herseth (D-S.D.) with $32.3 million; Rep. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) with $28.5 million; House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) with $27.62 million; House Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member David Hobson (R-Ohio) with $27.6 million; and Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) with $25 million.


Pork Alert: Financial Disservice

Washington, D.C. - Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today released its preliminary analysis of the House version of the Fiscal 2009 Financial Services Appropriations Act. There were 197 projects for a total of $57 million in the bill. That represents an increase of 45 percent above the 136 projects and an 84 percent increase above the dollar amount of $31 million contained in the fiscal 2008 House version of the financial services bill.


The following are among the most egregious examples of pork-barreling in the bill:


$17.5 million by Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) for renovations at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library.

$1.3 million by House appropriator Harold “Hal” Rogers (R-Ky.) for the National Alliance for Model State Drug Laws.

$300,000 by House Financial Services Appropriations Subcommittee member Dennis Rehberg (R-Mont.) for the Montana World Trade Center (MWTC). The organization’s website says that it can “help your business realize international sales and expansion goals that would otherwise be unattainable.” One MWTC grantee, the Missoula Children’s Theatre, makes “overseas forays every year, visiting U.S. military bases and international schools, where they help students put together full-fledged theatrical productions.” Companies can join the MWTC for a measly $300 per year but taxpayers have to pony up $300,000.

$250,000 by House appropriator Marion Berry (D-Ark.) for the Arkansas Commercial Driver Training Institute at Arkansas State University.

$200,000 by Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.) for the Beaver Street Enterprise Center (BSE). According to its website, BSE helps new businesses, home-based businesses, and “if your business is established and you want to expand; if you would benefit from an affordable, professional workplace; or if you are ready for mentoring from top community business leaders.” BSE supporters include Bank of America and Wachovia Bank.

$100,000 by House Financial Services Appropriations Subcommittee member James Moran (D-Va.) for the Georgetown Metro Connection.


UPDATED Pork Alert: Homeland Insecurity


Washington, D.C. - Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today released its preliminary analysis of the House version of the Fiscal 2009 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Appropriations Act. There are 102 projects for a total of $120.1 million in this year’s House DHS bill. The top six porkers are Reps. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.) with $15 million; Harold “Hal” Rogers (R-Ky.) with $13.4 million; and Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.), John Culberson (R-Texas), Peter King (R-N.Y.), and David Price (D-N.C.) with $6 million each.

As is usually the case with appropriations, the House bill was stuffed full of pet projects. The following are some outrageous examples of pork that members of the House added to the Homeland Security bill:

$24.9 million for 51 projects for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Predisaster Mitigation by 56 members, spread among 26 states.
$22.1 million for 33 projects for FEMA State and Local Programs by 35 members, spread among 19 states.
$11 million by House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Harold Rogers (R-Ky.) for the National Institute for Hometown Security (NIHS). According to the Institute’s website, “NIHS is a private, non-profit 501 (c)3 corporation. NIHS was organized in 2004 through the leadership of Kentucky Fifth District Congressman Harold “Hal” Rogers. Congressman Rogers suggested organizing the higher education institutions of Kentucky to more effectively compete for research funds and projects aimed at improving homeland security. The Kentucky Homeland Security University Consortium resulted from his efforts. NIHS is the administrative manager for the Consortium.”
$5 million by House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman David Price (D-N.C.) for a study on the impact of climate on future disasters in the state of North Carolina.
$250,000 by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) for a perimeter security and noise abatement study at the James J. Rowley Training Center in Maryland.

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Our nation has not always lived up to its ideals, yet those ideals have never ceased to guide us. They expose our flaws, and lead us to mend them. We are the beneficiaries of the work of the generations before us and it is each generation's responsibility to continue that work. - Laura Bush

God is a conservative -

Ecclesiastes 10:2--"A wise man's heart inclines him to the right, but a fool's heart to the left."

Pork Alert: Interior and Environment

Washington, D.C. - Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today released its preliminary analysis of the House version of the Fiscal 2009 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. There are 247 projects, costing taxpayers $134.9 million.


Here are some outrageous examples of wasteful spending that members of the House added into to the Interior and Environment Appropriations Act:


$4.2 million for seven projects by House Interior Subcommittee Chairman Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), including: $500,000 for the city of University Place for sewer infrastructure; $270,000 for a Hood Canal Dissolved Oxygen Study; and $200,000 for Mason County Courthouse restoration.

$1 million by House Interior Subcommittee member Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.) for the Inter-Tribal Bison Cooperative. According to the National Bison Association, there are an estimated 20,000 bison remaining on public lands in the U.S. and Canada.

$500,000 by House Interior Subcommittee member Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.) for methamphetamine prevention in the Mark Twain National Forest.

$350,000 by Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), for the River Raisin Revolutionary War Battlefield. This battle took place in 1813, long after the Revolutionary War ended.

$150,000 by House appropriator Michael Simpson (R-Idaho) for the Rexburg Historic Westwood Theater. The theater’s website notes it was “Opened in 1917 as the Rex Theater and through the years had various owners and operators.” Additionally, “Although it is not on the National Register of Historic places, it is near the Madison County Courthouse which is on the Register.”

$150,000 by Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) for the Historic Mishler Theatre in Altoona, where the Holy Smoke Blues will be playing on August 15. Their performance will be preceded by a group of taxpayers singing the blues over the proliferation of pork in Washington.



Pork Alert: Labor/HHS/Education

Washington, D.C. - Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today released its preliminary analysis of the House version of the Fiscal 2009 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act. In total, there are 1,370 earmarks worth a staggering $618.8 million of taxpayer money. This represents a 5 percent increase in number of projects, but a whopping 122 percent increase in dollar amounts over the FY 2008 version, which had 1,305 earmarks costing $277.9 million. The top three porkers are as follows: Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii), $168.5 million; Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), $161.3 million; and Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.), $148.5.


In typical Congressional fashion, the Labor/HHS bill is loaded with pork projects and wasteful spending from both Democrats and Republicans, including:


$25 million by 30 House members (including the top three porkers in the bill) for the National Writing Project. The Department of Education (DoE) did not request the earmarked funds, since $3 billion already exists to improve the writing skills of professionally trained teachers. The program is described on the DoE website as a “sole source, noncompetitive award, by direction of Congress.”

$175,000 by House appropriator Adam Schiff (D-Ca.), Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Ca.), and Mary Bono (R-Ca.) for the Autry National Center for the American West, which “explores the experiences and perceptions of the diverse peoples of the American West,” according to its website.

$150,000 by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) for the American Ballet Theatre in New York for “educational activities.” According to its website, “As of May 2008, over 65 donors have contributed a total of $28 million during the campaign’s private drive.”

$100,000 by House appropriator Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) for the Toledo GROWS High School Garden Learning Initiative, a “community gardening outreach program.” According to their website, “Community gardens are safe, beautiful outdoor spaces on public or private lands, where neighbors meet to grow and care for vegetables, flowers and native plant species. The gardeners take initiative and responsibility for organizing, maintaining and managing the garden area.”


Pork Alert: Military Construction

Washington, D.C. - Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today released its preliminary analysis of the House version of the Fiscal 2009 Military Construction Appropriations Act. The bill contains 102 projects for a total of $621.3 million. The enacted version of the fiscal 2008 Military Construction Appropriations Act included 191 projects worth $1.2 billion, so Congress is well on its way to equaling or exceeding last year’s totals.


It should come as no surprise that the House bill is bursting at the seams with wasteful pet projects. Consider the following examples of pork that members of the House jammed into the Military Construction bill:


$18.4 million added by House Military Construction Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Chet Edwards (D-Tex.), including $17.5 million for a chapel and education center at Fort Hood.


$11.58 million for a fitness center in Kingsville, Texas, added by Rep. Solomon Ortiz (D-Tex.). There is a private gym four miles away that costs $30 per month, with a $35 initiation fee. This $11.58 million could pay for the gym memberships of 29,300 service men and women for one year.

$9.9 million added by Rep. John Spratt, Jr. (D-S.C.) for a physical fitness center at Shaw Air Force Base. There is a gym four miles away that charges $25 per month, with a $75 down payment. This $9.9 million could pay for the gym memberships of 26,400 service men and women for one year.

$6.8 million added by Rep. Terry Everett (R-Ala.) for a chapel center at Fort Rucker, Alabama, which already has two separate chapels on its campus.

$3.9 million added by Reps. Robert Scott (D-Va.) and Robert Wittman (R-Va.) for a vehicle paint facility at Fort Eustis, Virginia.

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Our nation has not always lived up to its ideals, yet those ideals have never ceased to guide us. They expose our flaws, and lead us to mend them. We are the beneficiaries of the work of the generations before us and it is each generation's responsibility to continue that work. - Laura Bush

God is a conservative -

Ecclesiastes 10:2--"A wise man's heart inclines him to the right, but a fool's heart to the left."

Pork Alert: Senate Agriculture/Rural Development/Food
and Drug Administration


Washington, D.C. - Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today released its preliminary analysis of the Senate version of the Fiscal 2009 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Act. There are 287 projects for a total of $167.2 million in the bill.


The top porkers in the bill are Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) with $27.4 million; Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) with $23.6 million; Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) with $18.9 million; Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Robert Bennett (R-Utah) with $16 million; and Senate Appropriations Committee member Larry Craig (R-Idaho) and Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) squeezing out $10.6 million each.


The following are examples of pork added to the bill:


$4,841,000 by 19 senators for wood utilization research in Alaska, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, and West Virginia. This research has cost taxpayers $95.6 million since 1985.
$1,117,000 by Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Robert Bennett (R-Utah) for Mormon crickets.
$300,000 by Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) for shrimp aquaculture. Since 1985, $69 million has been appropriated for this research.
$270,000 by Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) for the Montana Sheep Institute. This organization has received $3.1 million in pork since 2002.
$259,000 by Senate Appropriations Committee member Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) for floriculture. According to a September 13, 2007, Star Bulletin article Hawaii’s floriculture and nursery products grossed $100.7 million in 2006. Since 1995, CAGW has identified $4.1 million in pork for this research.
$237,000 by Senate Appropriations Committee member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) for the Wine Grape Foundation Block at Washington State University. Wine in the state is a $3 billion industry.
$184,000 by Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) for Lowbush Wild Blueberry research. Since 1995, CAGW has identified $3.2 million in pork for this research.


Pork Alert: Senate Commerce/Justice/Science

Washington, D.C. - Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today released its preliminary analysis of the Senate version of the Fiscal 2009 Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) Appropriations Act. There are 574 projects for a total of $436.5 million in this year’s Senate bill.


The top five porkers are Senate CJS Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) with $72.9 million; Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) with $52.4 million; Senate CJS Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) with $48.7 million; Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) with $41.2 million and Senate appropriator Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) with $32.1 million.


The following are examples that pork-loving members added to the bill:


$24.6 million for two projects by Senate CJS Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), Sens. Jim Cardin (D-Md.), Jim Webb (D-Va.), and John Warner (R-Va.), to aid watermen in the Chesapeake Bay with new work opportunities, and to restore oyster habitat and plant disease free oysters in scientifically selected sites throughout the Chesapeake Bay;

$4.9 million for nine projects for the Marshall Space and Flight Center in Huntsville, by Senate CJS Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Richard Shelby (R-Ala.);

$750,000 by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for the University of Louisville to research factors that hinder the wound healing process;

$450,000 by Senator David Vitter (R-La.) to eliminate public corruption and reduce white collar crime;

$400,000 by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) for copper wire theft prevention in Las Vegas; and,

$100,000 for the Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation by Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) to provide economic relief to Maine lobstermen.



Pork Alert: Senate Homeland Insecurity

Washington, D.C. - Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today released its preliminary analysis of the Senate version of the Fiscal 2009 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Appropriations Act. There are 17 projects for a total of $133 million in this year’s Senate DHS bill. To paraphrase an earlier classic quote by Senate appropriator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), the Senate Subcommittee on Homeland Security made out “like a bandit” on this bill; 92 percent of the total appropriated funds, or nearly $123 million, went to members of the Subcommittee.


The following are some outrageous examples of pork that senators added to the Homeland Security bill:


$39.7 million for the Advanced Training Center, which trains border agents, by Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), although the Bush Administration has not requested funding to expand the center. Sen. Byrd requested and received the same amount for the project in fiscal year 2008.

$27 million by Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee member Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), and Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) for the Southeast Region Research Initiative in Tennessee. The website for this program has no white papers or reports of their research available, only project descriptions.

$22.3 million by Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) for the National Center for Critical Information Processing and Storage in Mississippi, which “seeks to consolidate and safely store information critical to the operations of the federal government.”

$4.5 million by Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) for the 2010 Olympics Coordination Center in Bellingham, Washington. According to Sen. Murray’s website, the Center “would allow federal, state, and local officials to meet, prepare and coordinate a response to any incident from one location.” Although the Olympics will be held in Vancouver, Canada, “the Center would only be twenty-three miles away from the Canadian border, as opposed to 110 miles to Seattle or 155 miles to the Washington State Military Department.”


Pork Alert: Senate Transportation/Housing and Urban Development

Washington, D.C. - Citizens Against Government Waste today released its preliminary analysis of the Senate version of the Fiscal 2009 Transportation and Housing and Urban Development (THUD) Act. There are 601 projects for a total of $906.2 million in this year’s Senate bill. The dollar amount of the most notorious depository of pork in THUD, the Economic Development Initiative program, decreased 16.2 percent from $123.5 million in the fiscal 2008 version of the Senate bill to $103.5 million for fiscal 2009.


The top five porkers are Senate THUD Appropriations Subcommittee member Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) with $85.4 million; Senator Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) with $83.9 million; Senate THUD Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) with $56.3 million; Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) with $51.4 million; and Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) with $51.1 million.


The following are examples of pork added to the bill:


$1,000,000 by Senator Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) for the development of a pedestrian bridge in Poughkeepsie.

$700,000 by Sens. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) and Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) for waterproofing activities in basement-level storage areas at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. Considered to be one of the dozen greatest art museums in the country, the Wadsworth Atheneum reported a fund balance of $106 million at the end of 2006.

$500,000 by Senate THUD Appropriations Subcommittee member Robert Bennett (R-Utah) and Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) for a parking facility in Provo.

$200,000 by Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) for renovation of the Berkshire Theatre Festival’s facilities and grounds. In June, 2008 the theatre received a $10,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for its production of Waiting for Godot. How apt, when fiscal discipline in Congress has become as elusive as Godot.

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Our nation has not always lived up to its ideals, yet those ideals have never ceased to guide us. They expose our flaws, and lead us to mend them. We are the beneficiaries of the work of the generations before us and it is each generation's responsibility to continue that work. - Laura Bush

God is a conservative -

Ecclesiastes 10:2--"A wise man's heart inclines him to the right, but a fool's heart to the left."

Thanks for the info...

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"You get the respect that you give" - cnredd

Didn't anyone find it interesting that neither McCain OR Obama were on the list of individuals the author claims need to be thrown out?

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Can someone tell me why these projects are bad? I don't think that any of them can be classified as a "bridge to nowhere", a project that was never completed and the money is still in the coffers of the Alaska government...

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As I've previously stated within this thread...

That's the issue with ALL of Obama's earmarks...

It doesn't matter if it was 5 cents to save drowning children, 43 cents for abused dogs, or 5 bucks for homeless medication...

Adding earmarks AFTER the Congress votes on a bill is WRONG...

If these projects "aren't so bad", then there is NO REASON why Congress shouldn't have a say on whether or not they get approved...

You know...taxpayer money...Congress holds the purse strings...that whole thing?...

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"You get the respect that you give" - cnredd