Washington, D.C. - Members of Congress have a considerable amount of unfinished business when they return from summer vacation.  First and foremost are those pesky appropriations bills, including the fiscal 2007 Transportation, Treasury, Housing and Urban Development, Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (H.R. 5576) (T/THUD).  Senate appropriators added 406 earmarks costing $250 million to the Economic Development Initiative (EDI) program.  While the goal of EDI is to increase economic development and revitalization, the program is often used to camouflage pork.  As is usually the case in the appropriations process, seniority on the committee had a clear advantage when it came time to purloin the pork, as shown by the following:

• $7.5 million for 13 projects in the state of Senate T/THUD Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Kit Bond (R-Mo.), including:  $1 million for the Center for Functional Foods in Columbia; $250,000 for a planetarium at Truman State University in Kirksville; and $250,000 for the restoration of the Winston Churchill Memorial in Fulton.
• $4.25 million for 10 projects in the state of Senate T/THUD Appropriations Subcommittee member Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), including:  $1 million to Phenix City for the redevelopment of their downtown and riverfront; $500,000 for Old Fort McClellan; and $400,000 for the Green County Courthouse Square in Eutaw.
• $4 million for 12 projects in the state of Senate T/THUD Appropriators Subcommittee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-Wa.), including:  $250,000 for the Bellingham Marine Trades Center; $250,000 for a YMCA in Gig Harbor; and $250,000 for the Northwest Maritime Center in Port Townsend.

This bill also includes many examples of flagrant pork-barrel spending from other states, such as $2.5 million for the Tongass Coast Aquarium in Ketchikan, Alaska and $380,000 for the National Cattle Congress in Waterloo, Iowa.

“Projects are not funded based on merit,” CAGW President Tom Schatz.  “It’s all a question of muscle at the federal pork-barrel, and appropriators have the most muscle of all.”

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