(Washington, D.C.) - Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today released its preliminary analysis of the House version of the Fiscal 2010 Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Appropriations Act.  CAGW has documented 1,086 projects at a cost of $366.7 million.  This represents a 3.3 percent decrease in projects and a 10.5 percent decrease in cost from the House fiscal year 2009 CJS version.  However, enough earmarks remain to make this bill unpalatable to taxpayers.  House CJS Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.) requested 33 projects totaling $8,651,000, while House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) requested eight projects worth $6,000,000.

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

• $900,000 for oysters:  $700,000 by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), House appropriator James Moran (D-Va.), House CJS Appropriations Subcommittee member C.A. Ruppersberger (D-Md.), and Reps. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), Donna Edwards (D-Md.), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), Frank Kratovil (D-Md.), John Sarbanes (D-Md.), Bobby Scott (D-Va.), and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) for native oyster restoration of the Chesapeake Bay, and $200,000 by Majority Leader Hoyer and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) for a oyster hatchery economic pilot program at the Morgan State University Estuarine Research Center.
• $800,000 by Reps. Timothy Johnson (R-Ill.) and Aaron Schock (R-Ill.) for an Illinois height modernization program at the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS).  According to the website of the Illinois Natural Resources Geospatial Data Clearinghouse, “[T]he ISGS received nearly $300,000 to fund Year 1 project activities from an earmark by Congressman Timothy Johnson through the NGS Height Modernization Program.  The ISGS anticipates receiving nearly $725,000 to fund Year 2, or FY09, project activities earmarked by Congressman Timothy Johnson and Raymond LaHood/Congressman Aaron Schock.”
• $150,000 by Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) for a juvenile delinquency program at Youth and Tennis, Inc.  According to its website, Youth and Tennis, Inc., “has been free since 1973 and has a successful history of helping youth.” 
• $30,000 by House appropriator Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) for a youth initiative at the Woodstock Film Festival.  The times, they are a-changin’, I guess; free love ain’t so free anymore.

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