Washington, D.C. – Much scarier than the prospect of being haunted by the undead is the prospect of being spooked by a record $8.6 trillion national debt.  In the Halloween spirit, Citizens Against Government Waste provides a list of who deserves taxpayer tricks and treats. 

Trick:  To Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) for helping to secure a $2.3 billion loan from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) for a company for whom he was a lobbyist: the Dakota, Minnesota, and Eastern Railroad (DM&E).  Sen. Thune had earlier increased the FRA’s budget from $3.5 to $35 billion in apparent anticipation of the loan.  With a poor safety record and revenues of less than $200 million, DM&E does not appear capable of making the annual $246 million payment, leaving taxpayers with the scary prospect of having to cover the shortfall.

Treat:  To Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and the grassroots Internet campaign that unmasked Sens. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) as the secret holders who had been preventing the consideration of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (S. 2590).  The bipartisan legislation, signed into law by the President, requires the Office of Management and Budget to create a public website listing the individuals and groups receiving federal grants and contracts. 

Trick:  To the Federal Trade Commission for approving the merger of Boeing and Lockheed Martin’s government satellite launch businesses to form the United Launch Alliance (ULA).  In addition to monopolizing government contracts and driving up costs, the ULA stands to gain an unfair advantage in the private launch market by benefiting from lavish subsidies.  The government is already giving away enough candy; the ULA should not be allowed to double-dip.

Treat:  To the 245 representatives who voted for an internal House rule change (H. Res. 1000) that requires all earmarks and their sponsors to be identified in spending, tax, and authorization bills.  Finally, Congress is making it harder for porkers to mask their devilish deeds.

Trick:  To the members of Congress and their staffs who request earmarks that benefit their lobbyist family members.  USA Today identified roughly $750 million in last year’s appropriations bills that went to “projects championed by lobbyists whose relatives were involved in writing the spending bills.”  No doubt that special treatment will continue to haunt them.

Treat:  To Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) for considering a ban on earmarks in future Labor/Health and Human Services/Education Appropriations bills.  A similar ban helped reduce the final number of pork projects to 51 in fiscal 2006, but in fiscal 2007 the number has exploded into the thousands.  Even as the senator’s staffers are being investigated for earmark misdeeds, his proposal is one that should be brought back from the dead. 

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