(Washington, D.C.) – Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today named Sens. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) its December Porkers of the Month.  The three senators were the only three Republicans who crossed over to vote with the Democratic majority to pass the $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill on Sunday, December 13, 2009.  The bill, which was an amalgamation of six separate appropriations bills (Transportation, Housing and Urban Development; Commerce, Justice, Science; Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education; State and Foreign Operations; Financial Services and General Government, and Military Construction, Veterans Affairs), increased spending for the federal agencies and departments under the auspices of these bills by an average of 12 percent.  In addition, the omnibus had more than 5,000 pork-barrel earmarks worth $3.8 billion.

“At a time when there is understandable and widespread anxiety about the crushing $12 trillion national debt and out-of-control spending in Washington, D.C., these three senators betrayed the taxpayers’ trust by casting deciding votes in favor of a swollen package of spending bills in order to protect their pork,” said CAGW President Tom Schatz.  “They decided to give themselves some pork for Christmas rather than giving the taxpayers a gift by opposing the omnibus bill.”

All three senators have a long and storied relationship with pork and wasteful spending.  In fiscal year (FY) 2009, Sen. Cochran, who is the ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, was also the number one porker in the entire Congress with 231 pork-barrel projects worth $653.1 million, including $8.75 million for the Exchange with Historic Whaling and Trading Partners Program and $443,000 for Beaver Management and Control.  Sen. Shelby is a long-time appropriator who made sure to grab 158 projects worth $267.4 million in FY 2009.  For her part, Sen. Collins brought home 77 projects worth $200 million, including $24.2 million for such high national priorities as the National Writing Project.  CAGW is busy compiling the FY 2010 earmark list, and the senators will surely be prominent in pork once again.

For their shameless self-interest and single-minded zeal to “get theirs,” regardless of the long-term impact on the nation as a whole, Sens. Cochran, Collins, and Shelby win the dubious title of CAGW’s December Porkers of the Month.

Citizens Against Government Waste is the nation’s largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.  Porker of the Month is a dubious honor given to lawmakers, government officials, and political candidates who have shown a blatant disregard for the interests of taxpayers.