Washington, D.C. – Citizens Against Government Waste today released its preliminary analysis of the House version of the fiscal year 2010 Financial Services Appropriations Act.  In total, there are 182 projects worth $33 million in the fiscal year 2010 House version of the bill.  This represents a 7.6 percent decrease in number of projects, and an impressive 42 percent decrease in dollar amounts from the fiscal year 2009 House version, which had 197 projects costing $57 million.  House Financial Services Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman José Serrano (D-N.Y.) took $400,000 for five projects and House Financial Services Subcommittee Ranking Member Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.) received $850,000 for three projects.

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

• $350,000 by House appropriator Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.) for the Alabama Center for Advanced Woodworking Technology.
• $200,000 by House appropriator Marion Berry (D-Ark.) for the Arkansas Commercial Driver Training Institute (CDTI) at Arkansas State University-Newport, funded through the Small Business Administration.  According to Rep. Berry’s February 27, 2009 press release, the CDTI “is a national leader in entry-level and enhanced commercial driver training for the over-the-road sector of the transportation industry.  Funds will be utilized to improve ASU-Newport’s Driver Skills Training Range.”
• $175,000 by House appropriator Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-Mich.) and Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) for Detroit Renaissance for the Detroit Creative Corridor Center.  According to Rep. Conyers’ website, the center will “serve as the champion of the Creative Economy Initiative and provide leadership for the creative community.”  As part of the Creative Corridor Initiative, Detroit Renaissance launched a “Detroit Make it Here” website in June 2008, which it called “a Facebook for creatively inclined people in Detroit.”  Instead of asking taxpayers to fund their own version of Facebook, they should use the free version of Facebook that everybody else uses.
• $100,000 by Rep. Adam Putnam (R-Fla.) for the Florida Department of Citrus (FDOC) for abscission chemical in order to improve citrus harvesting.  According to its website, “FDOC activities are funded by a tax paid by citrus growers on each box of citrus that moves through commercial channels,” plus the new contribution from taxpayers.

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