Pork Alert: Financial Disservice

Washington, D.C. - Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today released its preliminary analysis of the House version of the Fiscal 2009 Financial Services Appropriations Act.  There were 197 projects for a total of $57 million in the bill.  That represents an increase of 45 percent above the 136 projects and an 84 percent increase above the dollar amount of $31 million contained in the fiscal 2008 House version of the financial services bill.

The following are among the most egregious examples of pork-barreling in the bill:

• $17.5 million by Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) for renovations at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library.
• $1.3 million by House appropriator Harold “Hal” Rogers (R-Ky.) for the National Alliance for Model State Drug Laws.
• $300,000 by House Financial Services Appropriations Subcommittee member Dennis Rehberg (R-Mont.) for the Montana World Trade Center (MWTC).  The organization’s website says that it can “help your business realize international sales and expansion goals that would otherwise be unattainable.”  One MWTC grantee, the Missoula Children’s Theatre, makes “overseas forays every year, visiting U.S. military bases and international schools, where they help students put together full-fledged theatrical productions.”  Companies can join the MWTC for a measly $300 per year but taxpayers have to pony up $300,000.
• $250,000 by House appropriator Marion Berry (D-Ark.) for the Arkansas Commercial Driver Training Institute at Arkansas State University.
• $200,000 by Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.) for the Beaver Street Enterprise Center (BSE).  According to its website, BSE helps new businesses, home-based businesses, and “if your business is established and you want to expand; if you would benefit from an affordable, professional workplace; or if you are ready for mentoring from top community business leaders.”  BSE supporters include Bank of America and Wachovia Bank.
• $100,000 by House Financial Services Appropriations Subcommittee member James Moran (D-Va.) for the Georgetown Metro Connection.

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

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