Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) named Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) its August 2017 Porker of the Month for advocating for the “road to nowhere.”

On July 20, 2017, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 218, Rep. Young’s King Cove Road Land Exchange Act, which would permit the building of a road between the two remote Alaska towns of King Cove (with a population of 989) and Cove Bay (with a population of 122) through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. 

On March 14, 2014, a bipartisan group of former Interior Department officials from the Bush, Clinton, Ford, and Nixon administrations sent a letter to then-Interior Secretary Sally Jewell supporting her decision to reject the proposed road.  The letter stated that, “The Izembek road was a terrible idea in 1998, it was a terrible idea when you heroically rejected it last December, and it still remains a terrible idea today.”

Peter Mjos, a former Eastern Aleutian Medical Director for the Public Health Service, bluntly laid out the dangers of the proposed road:  “Combined with darkness, avalanche conditions, and ice-glazed roads, an attempt to travel the proposed road would be foolish beyond reason, regardless [of] the emergency or business.”

It should be no shock that Rep. Young is in favor of such a wasteful project.  He has been an infamous defender of pork-barrel earmarks for many years and was the creator of the $223 million “bridge to nowhere” in the 2005 highway bill.  Rep. Young has called the congressional earmark moratorium “bad government” and bemoaned that, “we let a bunch of bobbleheads in the media change the conduct of this Congress.”

CAGW President Tom Schatz said in a statement:  “Rep. Young has a long track record on the wrong side of taxpayers.  From the bridge to nowhere, to his support for earmarks, and now his advocacy for a road to nowhere, he is the poster representative for irresponsible spending.  Instead of casting blame, Rep. Young should end his earmark crusade for once and for all.” 

For his support of wasteful, pork-barrel projects like the road to nowhere, CAGW names Rep. Don Young its August 2017 Porker of the Month.

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.  Porker of the Month is a dubious honor given to lawmakers, government officials, and political candidates who have shown a blatant disregard for the interests of taxpayers.