Washington, D.C. – The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) today lauded Sen. John McCain’s amendment to H.R. 2217, the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for FY 02, to strike funding for the refurbishing of the Vulcan Monument in Alabama. 

The 56-foot tall statue of the Roman God of Fire was built to represent Alabama at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair.  It was moved back to Birmingham and has seriously deteriorated in the last 97 years.  Its upkeep at federal expense is a prime example of pork barrel spending.

“In recent years, state and local officials, rather than allocate funds themselves, aggressively lobbied Republican U.S. Senator Richard Shelby to procure $3.5 million in unauthorized federal funds,” CCAGW President Tom Schatz said.  “Shelby, a Senate appropriator, bowed to parochial special interests and slipped $1.5 million for Vulcan into last year’s Interior bill.  He has already requested $2 million in pork this year.”

“Clearly, this is project is inappropriate at the federal level, is a waste of taxpayer money, and has been pursued without proper oversight and scrutiny,” Schatz added.  “If Birmingham wants to renovate Vulcan, or a local giant muffler man statue, that’s their prerogative.” 

Last year, the Vulcan statue was featured prominently in Citizens Against Government Waste’s annual Congressional Pig Book and received national media attention. 

“CCAGW urges the Senate to adopt the McCain amendment so we will not have to provide the statue and Sen. Shelby with further critical press coverage,” Schatz concluded.  “The vote will be considered for CCAGW’s annual Congressional Ratings.”

CCAGW is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, mismanagement and abuse in government.