(Washington, D.C.)—The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) today hosted a press conference to discuss the scheduled House vote on the fiscal 2004 Consolidated Appropriations Act or Omnibus spending bill (H.R. 2673).  The 1,448-page bill consists of seven of the thirteen spending bills and totals $820 billion.  CCAGW was joined by Americans for Tax Reform, The Heritage Foundation, National Taxpayers Union, and Taxpayers for Common Sense in denouncing the omnibus bill as a mechanism for securing copious amounts of pork for lawmakers’ home states and districts.  Featured speakers included Reps. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.).

“It’s been three months since the start of fiscal 2004, and what a surprise, Congress has yet to finish the appropriations process,” CCAGW President Tom Schatz said.  “Though they have missed their appropriations deadline and are faced with a $500 billion deficit, members are finding the time to pile on the pork.” 

Last year’s omnibus bill included 7,651 pork projects totaling $11.5 billion.  The fiscal 2004 version is packed with even more parochial projects and is expected to set a new record for pork spending.  Here are the latest examples of pork found by CAGW in H.R. 2673:

-$2,000,000 added by the Senate for The First Tee Program in St. Augustine, Fla. to provide affordable access to golf for everyone, especially kids;

-$1,800,000 added by the Senate for the Appalachian fruit laboratory in Kearneysville, W.Va.;

-$500,000 added by the Senate for Salt Lake City, Utah for the Pete Suazo Business Center to purchase building space;

-$447,000 added by the Senate for halibut data collection in Alaska;

-$325,000 for the City of Salinas, California for the construction of a swimming pool;

-$270,000 added by the Senate for potato storage in Madison, Wisc.;

-$250,000 added by the Senate for the Walter Clore Wine and Culinary Center in Prosser, Wash. for costs

 associated with construction;
The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, the nation’s largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, mismanagement and abuse in government.