(Washington, D.C.) – Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) observes Tax Day 2006 by mourning the loss of billions of dollars to congressional pork and by calling attention to the waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal budget. 

“It’s that time of year again,” CAGW President Tom Schatz said.  “The time of year where Americans are forced to shell out exorbitant sums of money to fund inefficient and inept government programs.”

Just in time for Tax Day, on April 5^th CAGW released the 2006 Congressional Pig Book which compiles the wasteful projects of gluttonous appropriators.  Congress managed to jam 9,963 pork projects into the 11 appropriations bills for a record total of $29 billion, or 6.2 percent more than last year’s total of $27.3 billion.  The cost of pork has increased by 29 percent since fiscal 2003.  Here are just a few examples of pork for which taxpayers are footing the bill:

• $1 million for the Waterfree Urinal Conservation Initiative;
• $550,000 for the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington;
• $500,000 for the Sparta Teapot Museum in Sparta, North Carolina;
• $500,000 for the Arctic Winter Games in Alaska;
• $250,000 for the National Cattle Congress in Waterloo, Iowa; and
• $100,000 for the Richard Steele Boxing Club in Henderson, Nevada.

The complete 2006 Congressional Pig Book can be found at www.cagw.org.

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