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.

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