Pork Alert: House Transportation

(Washington, D.C.) - Citizens Against Government Waste today released its preliminary analysis of the House version of the fiscal year (FY) 2011 Department of Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development (THUD) Appropriations Act.  The bill contains 459 projects worth $329.6 million, which is a 54.2 percent decrease from the 1,003 projects in FY 2010, and a 43.6 percent decrease from the FY 2010 cost of $584.1 million.  House THUD Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Olver (D-Mass.) requested nine projects worth $7.9 million.
 
The following are examples of some of the pork that was added to the bill:

• $6,800,000 for 12 projects for streetscape design in 12 cities across the country.  House appropriator Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) requested $1,000,000, the largest dollar amount, for downtown Tacoma.
  
  
• $1,750,000 by House appropriator Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) and Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) for the Downtown Transit Corridor Program for the Downtown Circulator in Fort Lauderdale.  The project, which is called “The Wave,” promises a 2.7 mile streetcar system in the city that is estimated to cost $124.34 million, or $46 million per mile.   Wave goodbye to those tax dollars.  
  
  
• $750,000 by Reps. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.) and Dina Titus (D-Nev.) for the construction of a solar power array at the Three Square Food Bank in Las Vegas.  According to the organization’s website, $1 can provide three individual meals.  Instead of funding a solar power array, the money could be used to provide 2,250,000 meals.  
  
  
• $500,000 by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for a new ferry service in Berkeley.  According to Rep. Pelosi’s website, these funds would be used for the acquisition of two ferries, which would come equipped with solar panels.  In this instance, going green wastes the taxpayers’ greenbacks.
  
  
• $150,000 by Rep. Mark Schauer (D-Mich.) for renovation of the Tibbits Opera House in Coldwater.  According to the group’s most recent available annual report, 42,114 people attended productions in fiscal year 2007.  If the opera house charged an additional $3.56 per ticket, the cost of the renovations could be offset, and the burden on federal taxpayers, the vast majority of which will never visit Tibbits Opera House, could be avoided.  The fat lady has sung when it comes to Rep. Schauer’s fiscal restraint.
  

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

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