Washington, D.C. – Much scarier than being haunted by the undead is being horrified by the Frankenstein-like growth of federal spending.  In the Halloween spirit, Citizens Against Government Waste provides a list of who deserves taxpayer tricks and treats: 

Trick:  To House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) first for trying to suck the life’s blood from taxpayers’ wallets first in the form of a $2 million earmark for a building project that includes the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service, the Rangel Conference Center, and the Charles Rangel Library at the City College of New York.  Chairman Rangel took umbrage at Rep. John Campbell’s (R-Calif.) questioning of his “Monument to Me,” saying, “I would have a problem if you did it, because I don't think that you've been around long enough that having your name on something to inspire a building like this in a school.”  In addition, the earmark revelation came just weeks before Chairman Rangel really went for the taxpayers’ jugulars when he unveiled his “Mummy of All Tax Bills,” which will increase taxes by $3.5 trillion over 10 years, if enacted.

Treat:  To Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) for the successful removal of a $1 million wasteful earmark targeted to the Bethel Performing Arts Center Museum in New York, which includes a tribute to the 1969 Woodstock Festival.  The only high that should be celebrated during Halloween is a sugar high.  The money will instead go to the Maternal and Child Health block grant program.

Trick:  To the Senate Democratic leadership for its recent furtive attempts to roll back and undermine the earmark transparency and accountability provisions of S. 1, the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007.  Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) claims that only earmarks included in appropriations bills can be subject to challenges on the Senate floor.  The legislation is supposed to cover authorization and tax bills as well.

Treat:  To President George W. Bush for wielding the veto pen to block Congress’s attempt to force wasteful spending on the country.  The President has already vetoed a bill to expand State Children’s Health Insurance Program by $35 billion over five years by increasing eligibility to persons up to the age of 25 and families with incomes up to four times the poverty level.  Pres. Bush is also threatening to veto at least nine of the 12 appropriations bills for going $22 billion over budget.  Hopefully these threats will scare Congress straight.

Trick:  To the 231 members of the House of Representatives who, in zombie-like fashion, voted for a ghastly Farm Bill that conjures up ghosts of Farm Bills past.  They rejected every credible proposal for reform of farm subsidy programs, instead voting to extend the current archaic, costly, and wasteful system.  The House failed to move farm programs into the twenty-first century, ignoring free-market reforms, subverting trade agreements, and hurting those they claim to want to protect.

Treat:  To Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (R) for announcing the state would drive a stake through the heart of the infamous “Bridge to Nowhere” and focus on other transportation priorities.  Gov. Palin directed the Alaska Department of Transportation (DOT) to create a list of other uses for the $36 million in federal money that will be freed up with the desertion of the project.  The DOT will also work to come up with a more financially responsible solution, such as improved ferry services, to serve the residents of Gravina Island.  “Bridge to Nowhere,” RIP.

Trick:  To the vampiric Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) for purposefully putting up roadblocks and barriers to hinder earmark accountability and reform.  Jack-the-Ripper-Offer’s response to a reporter’s inquiry regarding the difficulty of matching up earmark information in appropriations bills was:  “So, you have to work.  Tough [expletive].”  Rep. Murtha was named CAGW’s May Porker of the Month for howling like a werewolf, throwing a temper tantrum, and threatening his colleagues over a challenge to a $23 million earmark for his pet project, the National Drug Intelligence Center in Johnstown, Pa.       

Treat:  To Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) for his successful amendment to prohibit the practice of Members of Congress haunting government agency officials with phone calls and letters to pressure them to fund pet projects that were not included as part of legislation passed by the Congress and signed by the President.  Agency budget officials, sitting all alone in their cubicles, crunching numbers, should no longer afraid to pick up the phone to find out another politician is stalking them from “inside the House!”…or the Senate.     

Trick:  To Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) for a toxic brew of earmark transgressions.  This summer it was revealed that the Alaskan had inserted a $10 million earmark in the 2005 transportation bill for a road in Florida that happened to benefit a man who had held a fundraiser for him.  CAGW named Rep. Young its April Porker of the Month for outrageous comments he made in defense of earmarks.  Rep. Young went all Jekyll-and-Hyde on the House floor in July when one of his earmarks was challenged, screaming, “You want my money, my money!”  He also threatened, “Those who bite me will be bitten back.”  When approaching Rep. Young, bring stakes and garlic.

Treat:  To Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph H. Boardman for concluding there was an “unacceptably high risk to taxpayers” in denying a $2.3 billion federal loan to the Dakota, Minnesota, and Eastern Railroad.  The loan would have been used to expand and improve a rail line used primarily to transport coal from Wyoming to Minnesota, a route that is already served by two railroads.  Even scarier: taxpayers would have been forced to foot the bill if the company were to default on the loan.

Trick:  To the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for its batty end-of-the-fiscal-year spending spree.  Al Kamen of The Washington Post reported that FAA officials, who are way behind schedule on FAA modernization, have somehow managed to scare up enough money for a $3,500 poker table in Atlanta, where the air traffic control center has a leaky roof.  The Air Traffic Controllers Association has been compiling a list of other demented expenditures by the FAA, like plasma televisions, a $1,300 oil painting for the lobby of the Ft. Worth facility, lots of classy office furniture, and $1,785 for a catered party in Philadelphia. 

Treat:  To Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) for saying “nevermore” to wasteful and egregious earmarks and pork-barrel projects from House spending bills.  After going 0-19 in 2006, the House on June 28, 2007 finally approved Rep. Flake’s amendment to eliminate a $129,000 congressional earmark slated to go to an economic development initiative in North Carolina called “The Home of the Perfect Christmas Tree.”

Trick:  To Democratic congressional leaders for luring average Americans with promises to end handouts to the rich and giving to the poor.  Instead, they are spending more money than ever on corporate welfare programs.  According to the Cato Institute, as reported in the October 23 Wall Street Journal, corporate welfare spending will rise from $92 billion last year to $100 billion in fiscal year 2008, including $2 billion in loans to ethanol producers; expanded coverage of the flood insurance program to include wind damage; as well as straightforward corporate pork, such as $500,000 to build a baseball stadium for the Cincinnati Reds minor league team in Billings, Montana; $150,000 for the Troy, Michigan Chamber of Commerce; $500,000 for the Arkansas World Trade Center; and $4 million for a rail bridge for CSX railroad. 

Treat:  To taxpayers for putting the heat on the House Democratic leadership to list earmarks with appropriations bills and forcing House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wisc.) to back down from his blood-curdling plan to keep taxpayers in the dark about tens of billions of dollars in congressionally-earmarked spending items until the bills were in the House-Senate conference.  Conference reports are not subject to amendment and Obey’s grim scheme would have prevented challenges to strike individual pork projects. 

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