Watch Dogs, Fall/Winter 2008
October 17, 2008
by: By: David Williams, Sean Kennedy

Government WasteWatch

Pork Alert Roundup

House

Commerce, Justice, Science—CAGW has documented 1,123 projects at a cost of $409.8 million.

The top five porkers are CJS Appropriations Subcommittee member Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) with $9.95 million; CJS Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.) with $9.7 million; CJS Appropriations Subcommittee member C.A “Dutch” Ruppersberger (D-Md.); with $8 million; CJS Appropriations Subcommittee member Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) with $7.9 million and House appropriator Ralph Regula (R-Ohio) with $7.7 million. Some egregious pork-barrel projects in the bill include:

$1,350,000 for planetarium costs, including $900,000 by House appropriator Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-Ill.), and Reps. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) and Danny Davis (D-Ill.) for planetarium equipment; $250,000 by House appropriator Ray LaHood (RIll.) for the Lakeview Museum Planetarium; and $200,000 by CJS Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) for the County College of Morris Planetarium.

$400,000 by Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) for horseshoe crab research at Virginia Tech.

Energy & Water—CAGW found 655 projects at a cost of $821 million.

The top five porkers for Energy and Water are Rep. Stephanie Herseth (D-S.D.) with $32.3 million; Rep. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) with $28.5 million; House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) with $27.6 million; House Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member David Hobson (R-Ohio) with $27.6 million; and Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) with $25 million. Some appropriations in the bill stood out, including:

$1.35 million by House appropriator Ralph Regula (R-Ohio) for the Rolls Royce solid oxide fuel systems development.

$210,000 by House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee member Ed Pastor (D-Ariz) for the Native American Affairs Program and the Sid Yates Scholarship Program, under the heading of “Water and Related Resources.”

Financial Services—There are 197 projects costing $57 million, which represents a 45 percent increase in projects and an 84 percent increase in dollar amounts from CAGW’s calculation for the fiscal year 2008 House bill.

Homeland Security—There are 102 projects for a total of $120.1 million in this year’s House Homeland Security bill.

The top six porkers are Reps. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.) with $15 million; Harold “Hal” Rogers (R-Ky.) with $13.4 million; and Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.), John Culberson (R-Texas), Peter King (R-N.Y.), and David Price (D-N.C.) with $6 million each.

Interior—For fiscal year 2009, CAGW has enumerated 247 projects at a cost of $134.9 million. In fiscal year 2008, CAGW found 226 projects worth $111 million in the House bill. The 2009 totals represent a 9.3 percent increase in projects and a 21.5 percent increase in dollar amount from 2008.

Worth noting is the stipulation for $1 million by House Interior Subcommittee member Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.) for the Inter-Tribal Bison Cooperative.

Labor, Health & Human Services, and Education—For fiscal year 2009, CAGW calculated that there are 1,370 earmarks at a cost of $618.8 million. In fiscal year 2008, CAGW found 1,305 projects costing $277.9 million in the House bill. The number of projects increased by 5 percent, but the dollar amount jumped by a whopping 122 percent.

The top three porkers are as follows: Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii), $168.5 million; Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), $161.3 million; and Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.), $148.5. The bill included pork from both side of the aisle, most notably:

$25 million by 30 House members (including the top three porkers in the bill) for the National Writing Project.

$100,000 by House appropriator Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) for the Toledo GROWS High School Garden Learning Initiative, a “community gardening outreach program.”

Military Construction—CAGW found 102 earmarks costing $621.3 million. The previously enacted version of the fiscal 2008 Military Construction Appropriations Act included 191 projects worth $1.2 billion. Congress is on pace to equal or exceed last year’s totals.

The most glaring example in a bill riddled with pork is the $3.9 million added by Reps. Robert Scott (D-Va.) and Robert Wittman (R-Va.) for a vehicle paint facility at Fort Eustis, Virginia.

Senate

Agriculture—There are 287 projects for a total of $167.2 million in the bill.

The top six porkers in the bill are Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) with $27.4 million; Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) with $23.6 million; Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) with $18.9 million; Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Robert Bennett (R-Utah) with $16 million; and Senate appropriator Larry Craig (R-Idaho) and Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) squeezing out $10.6 million each. In a bill riddled with pork, the following are just a couple of the highlights:

$4,841,000 by 19 senators for wood utilization research in different states.

$1,117,000 by Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Robert Bennett (R-Utah) for Mormon crickets.

Commerce, Justice, Science—There are 574 projects for a total of $436.5 million in the Senate bill.

The top five porkers are Senate CJS Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) with $72.9 million; Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) with $52.4 million; Senate CJS Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) with $48.7 million; Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) with $41.2 million and Senate appropriator Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) with $32.1 million. A few of the more baffling examples of pork in the bill are:

$24.6 million to aid watermen in the Chesapeake Bay with new work opportunities, and to restore oyster habitat and plant disease free oysters in scientifically selected sites throughout the Chesapeake Bay.

$400,000 by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) for copper wire theft prevention in Las Vegas.

Homeland Security—There are 17 projects for a total of $133 million in this year’s Senate DHS bill. To paraphrase an earlier classic quote by Senate appropriator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), the Senate Subcommittee on Homeland Security
made out “like a bandit” on this bill; 92 percent of the total appropriated funds, or nearly $123 million, went to members of the Subcommittee.

In a playful move, this bill added an appropriation for $4.5 million by Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) for the 2010 Olympics Coordination Center in Bellingham, Washington.

Transportation/Housing and Urban Development (THUD)—There are 601 projects for a total of $906.2 million in this year’s Senate bill. The dollar amount of the most notorious depository of pork in THUD, the Economic Development Initiative program, decreased 16.2 percent from $123.5 million in the fiscal 2008 version of the Senate bill to $103.5 million for fiscal 2009.

The top five porkers are Senate THUD Appropriations Subcommittee member Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) with $85.4 million; Senator Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) with $83.9 million; Senate THUD Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) with $56.3 million; Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) with $51.4 million; and Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) with $51.1 million. The more interesting appropriations in the bill include:

$1,000,000 by Senator Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) for the development of a pedestrian bridge in Poughkeepsie.

$200,000 by Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) for renovation of the Berkshire Theatre Festival’s facilities and grounds.