(Washington, D.C.) - Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today released its preliminary analysis of the Senate version of the fiscal year 2010 Financial Services and General
Government Appropriations Act.  In this year’s version, there are 105 projects worth $31.9 million.  Some of the biggest porkers were Senate Financial Services Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) with nine projects worth $4,300,000, and Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) with eight projects worth $4,100,000.  The combined amount accounts for 26.4 percent of the dollar total in the bill.   

Here are some examples of the pork in the bill:

• $500,000 by Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) for the Entrepreneurship Center to Develop New Entity Creation (ECDEC) at Mississippi State University.  According to Rep. Travis Childers’ (D-Miss.) website, the ECDEC will “address the immediate demand for entrepreneurial expertise regarding the commercialization of existing and future discoveries generated by, or in collaboration with MSU.”
• $400,000 by Senate Financial Services Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) for Western Illinois University for the Small Business Development Center.  The University’s website lists only one faculty person for the Center.
• $250,000 by Senate appropriator Bryon Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) for the Entrepreneurial Center for Horticulture at Minot State University-Bottineau.  According to its website, the center is “committed to furthering greenhouse production of organic and specialty vegetables in North Dakota.”  North Dakota is not among the leading states in horticulture sales.
• $200,000 by Senate Financial Services Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Susan Collins (R-Maine) for the Kelley Road Business Park in Orono, Maine.  According to Sen. Collins’ website, “The project will build essential infrastructure to attract the private capital needed to create jobs.”  Evidently, the federal government knows best and is going to boldly invest where no previous venture capitalists have gone before. 
• $200,000 by Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) for the Downtown Revitalization “Toolbox” program.  The funds will be used to reduce building vacancies in downtown Salem.

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