Introduction

Sneaking a pinch from the U.S. treasury for the folks back home – also known as pork-barrel spending – has long been one of Washington’s more unseemly traditions, transacted with a wink and a nod, behind closed doors, by the entrenched “old boy” network. Pork is the currency of power in a town where the ability to “bring home the bacon” remains an enduring measure of status.

Broadly speaking, pork is spending in circumvention of established budgetary procedures, or the use of federal money for projects of only local interest. It can assume any number of forms: military pork, academic pork, farm pork, park pork, and even court pork – the latest trend sweeping Congress. But any way you cut it, it still adds up to a raw deal for taxpayers.

A pinch of pork here and a pinch there, and soon we’re talking about real money, even by Washington standards. The 97 projects profiled here will cost taxpayers more than $1.2 billion, but amount to only a fraction of the pork found hidden away in the thirteen fiscal year (FY) 1994 appropriations bills. All meet one or more of the following criteria:

• Requested by only one chamber of Congress;
• Not specifically authorized;
• Not competitively awarded;
• Not requested by the President;
• Greatly exceeds the President’s budget request or the previous year’s funding;
• Not the subject of congressional hearings; or
• Serves only a local or special interest.

In addition to driving up the deficit, pork is a linchpin in the incumbency protection racket and a corrupter of the political system. In effect, pork practitioners bribe Americans with their own money: carting off a good portion of their incomes to Washington, then handing them back a few rancid morsels of pork and crowing about it in taxpayer-financed newsletters.

For that reason, the annual publication of Citizens Against Government Waste’s Congressional Pig Book Summary is a cause for consternation on Capitol Hill. Since 1990, this publication has focused unwanted public attention on some of the most outrageous boondoggles funded by unwitting taxpayers. Post-Pig Book fallout from the folks back home keeps Capitol Hill press secretaries spinning overtime and has resulted in the withdrawal of some projects by embarrassed legislators.

Nonetheless, Congress continues its wasteful ways in spite of massive public support for a line-item veto, a balanced budget amendment, and other reforms. While Washington insiders doggedly dismiss pork piracy as a minor glitch in the grand scheme of things, few taxpayers who foot the bill for the government’s fiscal follies consider the billions of wasted dollars as petty larceny.

It is, after all, our tax dollars going to waste.

I. Agriculture

Even though the following programs were not requested by the president, Congress appropriated money for them in FY 1994:

$4,443,000 added by the Senate for wood utilization research (ME, MI, MN, MS, NC, OR). Since 1985, $27,081,000 had been appropriated for such research, which is planned to continue through 1997. (By then, they’ll discover the toothpick.)

$1,400,000 added by the House for the Sub-Tropical Lab in Weslaco in the district of House Agriculture Committee Chairman E. (Kika) de la Garza (D-TX)

$668,000 added by the Senate for Mississippi Valley State University in the state of Senate appropriator Thad Cochran (R-MS)

$325,000 added by the Senate for seafood research in the state of Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Mark Hatfield, (R-OR).

$327,000 was appropriated for such research in 1993, which is planned to continue through 1997.

$260,000 for cranberry/blueberry disease and breeding research in NJ. According to testimony, “the researchers anticipate that significant solutions to the many interrelated pest and production problems will require an additional three to ten years especially to develop improved cultivars.” $1,847,000 has been appropriated for such research since 1985. (It will all be worth it when someone creates “Crueberry” juice.)

$237,000 for food irradiation in the state of Senate appropriator Tom Harkin (D-IA)

$221,000 for lowbush blueberry research at the University of Maine in the state of Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell (D-ME). Since 1990, $742,000 has been appropriated for such research, which is expected to continue through 1995. (Highbush blueberry researchers will undoubtedly demand matching grants.)

$200,000 added in the Senate for entomology acoustics detection in the state of Senate appropriator Thad Cochran (R-MS).

$200,000 for locoweed research at New Mexico State University in the state of House appropriator Joe Skeen (R-NM). Since 1992, $716,000 has been appropriated, and there is no expected completion date for this research. (Astragulus Papilionaceae: drives cows and taxpayers crazy.)

The following programs were requested by only one chamber of Congress:

$49,857,000 added by the House for existing human nutrition research facilities:

$14,571,000 for Tufts University in MA; $10,272,000 for Baylor College of Medicine in TX; $9,371,000 for the Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center in MD; $8,190,000 4 for the Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center in ND; $5,185,000 for the Letterman Army Institute of Research at the Presidio in CA; $753,000 for Peoria Agricultural Research Center (ARC) in IL; and $1,515,000 for other universities. These monies are in addition to the $700 million already being spent on nutrition research by the National Institutes of Health.

$875,000 over the budget request added by the Senate in the state of Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Dale Bumpers (D-AR) for increased staffing levels of: $500,000 for the Family Farms Research Center in Booneville; $125,000 for an aquaculture unit in Pine Bluff; and $125,000 each for facilities in Fayetteville and Stuttgart.

$516,000 added in the House for soybean-based ink research at Peoria ARC in IL and Lehigh University in PA, in the states of Agriculture Subcommittee Chairman Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Joseph McDade (R-PA).

Both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue agreed on this next one. What do you think?

$34,645,000 for screwworm research. Although the screwworm has already been eradicated from the United States, continued funding is being used to drive the wily pest out of southern Mexico as well according to the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee staff.

II. Commerce, Justice, and State

$18,750,000 added in conference for Immigration and Naturalization Service detention facilities: $11,250,000 in San Francisco in the district of House appropriator Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and $7,500,000 in El Paso in the state of Senate appropriator Phil Gramm (R-TX)

$5,828,000 for projects in the state of Senate Subcommittee Chairman Ernest Hollings (D-SC): $2,395,000 for the recreational fishery monitoring program; $1,750,000 for fisheries biotechnology; $683,000 for fish laboratory repair in Charleston; $500,000 for a grant to the Catawba Indian Tribe; and $500,000 for a South Carolina wetland management demonstration project.

$2,275,000 added in conference for projects in the state of House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Joseph McDade (R-PA) and House appropriator John Murtha (D-PA): $800,000 for global competitiveness at St. Francis and St. Vincent Colleges; $500,000 for the Van Emmons Population Marketing Analysis Center in Towanda; and $175,000 for the Ben Franklin Center Small Business Innovation Research program

$2,170,000 added in the Senate for projects in the state of Senate appropriator Daniel Inouye (D-HI): $750,000 for Hawaiian fisheries development; $520,000 for Hawaiian Monk Seals; $500,000 for Hawaiian stock management; and $400,000 for the algal bloom crisis on Maui

$1,860,000 added in conference for projects in the state of MA: $1,395,000 for the Massachusetts Biotechnology Institute and $465,000 for the Center for Manufacturing at the University of Massachusetts.

$1,800,000 added in the Senate for the Marine Science Center in Newport in the state of Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Mark Hatfield (R-OR) $1,700,000 added in the Senate for projects in the state of Senate appropriator Ted Stevens (R-AK): $1,200,000 for Halibut/Sablefish Individual Fishery Quotas and $500,000 for the Kodiak Fisheries Center

$1,400,000 added in conference for projects in the state of House subcommittee Ranking Member Harold Rodgers (R-KY) and Senate appropriator Mitch McConnell (R-KY): $1,000,000 for small business assistance to the city of Prestonburg; $300,000 for a small business incubator in Paducah; and $100,000 for Western Kentucky University Small Business Consulting

$1,395,000 added in conference for Indiana State University, the alma mater of House appropriator John Myers (R-IN). (Perhaps now they can afford to offer Fiscal Responsibility 101).

$1,000,000 added in conference for the Maritime Education and Research Center in Mystic in the state of House appropriator Rosa De Lauro (D-CT)

$1,000,000 added in the Senate for the Multispecies Aquaculture Center in the state of Senate appropriator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)

$750,000 added in the Senate for a fisheries laboratory in Oxford in the state of Senate appropriator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)

$300,000 added in the Senate for a United States-Canada lobster study in the state of Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell (D-ME)

III. Defense

$100,000,000 added in conference for “complementary widebody aircraft.” This was suggested by a Defense Appropriations Subcommittee member to encourage the Department of Defense to consider using commercial widebody aircraft as an alternative 6 to the troubled C-17. Not coincidentally, a widebody aircraft manufacturer is headquartered in the state of House subcommittee member Norman Dicks (D-WA)

$50,000,000 added in conference for “miscellaneous equipment” for the Army Reserve, the Army National Guard, and the Marine Corps Reserve

$46,250,000 added for electric vehicle technology research: $10,000,000 for the MARCAU Consortium; $10,000,000 for the Hawaii electric vehicle project; $4,000,000 for the Los Angeles agile manufacturing project; $3,250,000 for the California environmental vehicle consortium; and $15,000,000 for other ongoing projects. (Such expenditure could come as a shock to thousands of soldiers, sailors, and airmen being shown the door by the Pentagon.

$31,200,000 added in the House for the M88A1E1 tank recovery vehicle

$30,000,000 added in conference for the Joint Advanced Strike Technology Program (JAST). Despite the fact that the appropriations conferees found the program worthy of funding, they still directed “the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development, and Acquisition to submit a report to the Congressional defense committees by May 5, 1994, on the JAST organization, program goals, acquisition strategy, funding, and milestones.” (Shouldn’t all that stuff be worked out before the money is appropriated?)

$24,850,000 above the budget request for the MK-50 advanced lightweight torpedo ($7,850,000 was added in conference), manufactured in the district of House appropriator and Budget Committee Chairman Martin Sabo (D-MN)

$15,000,000 added for natural gas vehicles development $15,000,000 earmarked in the Senate for the Maui High Performance Computing Center in the state of Senate Subcommittee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-HI). Even with specific recommendations by the General Accounting Office and the Congressional Budget Office to reduce funding for high performance computing, Senator Inouye made sure that the Maui Center would not be affected by cutbacks.

$8,000,000 added in the Senate for the World Cup USA 1994 ($6,000,000) and the 1996 Summer Olympics ($2,000,000). In FY 1993, DOD for the World University Games in New York and $2,000,000 for the 1996 Summer Olympics. (Is this what they mean by “war games?”)

$5,400,000 added in the Senate for the Hawaii Small Business Development Center in the state of Senate Subcommittee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-HI)

$2,000,000 added in conference to develop and evaluate a “minimally invasive prototype surgical simulator to establish real time requirements for tactile feedback and computer image synthesis for training surgical and trauma care procedures” at the Madigan Army 7 Medical Center in Tacoma in the state of House subcommittee member Norman Dicks (D-WA). The conferees called the project “an important step in the technological evolvement of surgical simulation into the virtual reality training environment.”

IV. District of Columbia

$3,250,000 above the budget request for Library Plaza reconstruction. In FY 1993,

$26,528,000 was appropriated from capital outlays for project management and design to restore Library Plaza to allow for vehicular traffic.

V. Energy and Water

$50,000,000 added in the Senate for West Virginia Corridor L road construction in the state of Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd (D-WV) via the Appalachian Regional Commission. The Commission was created almost 30 years ago as a temporary response to poverty in Appalachia, but today it serves primarily as an expressway for pork. There is an additional $54,000,000 for this project in the Transportation Bill.

$38,700,000 added in conference for road construction in the state of House appropriator Tom Bevill (D-AL) via the Appalachian Regional Commission

$22,000,000 for the Robert C. Byrd Locks and Dam (WV and OH) which until 1992 were known as the Gallipolis Locks and Dam. (An ironic way to commemorate someone who built his political empire letting federal money flow like water.)

$20,400,000 added in the Senate for the Advanced Liquid Metal Reactor despite a House vote to kill the project. Termination of this program would save $318 million over five years.

$12,000,000 for the gas turbine-modular helium reactor. In 1970, this project was billed as a commercial, cost-competitive reactor; one reactor was built, but it was closed in 1989 due to poor performance.

$5,332,000 earmarked in the House primarily for the University of Miami in the district of freshman House appropriator Carrie Meek (D-FL), (who hasn’t been meek about immediately cutting herself in on a piece of action)

$4,600,000 added in a conference for the Biomedical Information Communication Center at Oregon Health Sciences University in the state of Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Mark Hatfield (R-OR)

$4,000,000 added in conference for an environmental biotechnology program at Folorida A&M University in the district of House appropriator Pete Peterson (D-FL)

$1,500,000 added in conference for the Maurice River in the state of House appropriator Dean Gallo (R-NJ) and Senate appropriator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)

$600,000 added in conference to ease fish migration up the Sacramento River, which meanders through the district of House appropriator Vic Fazio (D-CA)

VI. Foreign Operations

$19,600,000 added in the House for the International Fund for Ireland. The conference report “restores language stricken by the Senate and appropriates up to $19,600,000 for the International Fund for Ireland.” In the past, this program has used American taxpayer dollars for a golf video and pony trekking centers.

$1,000,000 added in the Senate for the Micro and Small Bank Development Program Account intended to help small businesses in Africa, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Latin America, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka.

VII. Interior

$11,000,000 added in the Senate for the FDR Memorial in Washington, D.C., originally to be funded privately. (According to his close friends, FDR did not want a monument erected in his honor)

$3,350,000 added in conference for building rehabilitation at the National Center for Preservation Technology in LA. The center was scheduled to be built in Georgia, but when Wyche Fowler (D-GA) lost his Senate seat, Senate appropriator J. Bennett Johnston (D-LA) had the project moved to Natchitoches College, which, at that time, had not a single employee experienced in preservation study.

$1,844,000 added in conference to rehabilitate buildings, hiking trails, and other recreational facilities in the Pacific Northwest Region, states of Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Mark Hatfield, (R-OR) and House appropriator Norman Dicks (D-WA)

$700,000 added in conference for the Alpine Lakes Management Area in the state of House appropriator Norman Dicks (D-WA)

$300,000 added for the National Park of Samoa for annual lease payments to tribes living within the park

VIII. Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education

$10,912,000 added in the Senate to provide state agencies for the funds for foreign language assistance deemed critical to the security of the United States. In declining to request funding, the administration contended that the program was “poorly structured.”

$5,250,000 added in the Senate for rural health research, $800,000 of which was earmarked for West Virginia University in the state of the Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd (D-WV)

$4,000,000 added by the Senate for the Dwight D. Eisenhower leadership program to award grants of $175,000 to “stimulate and support the development of leadership skills among new generations of American college students.” This program was created by Senate appropriator Arlen Specter (R-PA) and House Education and Labor Committee Ranking Member William Goodling (R-PA). Grant proposals have ranged from hiring Chillin’ Time, a Texas Rap group, for “Rap and Eat” encounter sessions with “at-risk fifth graders” to funding a TV variety show entitled “The Spirit of Leadership” at the University of Arizona.

$1,000,000 earmarked in the Senate for the Palmer Chiropractic School in Davenport to conduct chiropractic demonstrations in the state of Senate appropriator Tom Harkin (DIA). (It’s enough to break a taxpayer’s back)

$700,000 added by the House to study civilian airline training needs due to the effects of military downsizing. According to the appropriations subcommittee staff, there is no evidence that this study is necessary.

IX. Legislative Branch

$1,019,000 added in conference for the American Memory pilot program, which stores archival images and photos on laser disc so schools around the country can access them. The pilot test failed to meet its scheduled completion date of Fall 1993.

$150,000 added in conference for the Library of Congress’ Madison Building security funds. The conference report states that this appears to be “…duplicative of a combined House-Senate-Library of Congress effort for buildings and office access technology.”

X. Military Construction

The Cold War may be over, but the war over military construction appropriations is not. In an era of ever-tightening federal fiscal constraint, over $1.6 billion more in military construction was included in FY 1994 appropriations than in FY 1993. the following is a list of projects funded in spite of the fact that the Pentagon did not request them:

$33,140,000 added in the Senate for projects in the state of Senate appropriator Ted Stevens (R-AK): $15,500,000 for an Army joint mobility center at Fort Richardson; $8,900,000 for an Air Force National Guard fuel systems maintenance hangar at Eielson Air Force base; $5,500,000 to upgrade a water treatment plant and a waste water plant at Eielson Air Force Base; $2,500,000 for runaway repair at Elmendorf Air Force Base; and $740,000 for a waste-oil burning power plant at Fort Wainwright.

$11,500,000 added in the House for power plant modernization at the soon-to-be-closed Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in the state of House appropriator Thomas Foglietta (D-PA)

$5,750,000 added in conference for a support and hydrant system at Robbins Air Force Base in the state of House appropriator George (Buddy) Darden (D-GA).

$5,191,000 added for Army National Guard armories and organizational management shops in the state of Senate appropriator Christopher (Kit) Bond (R-MO): $2,842,000 in Poplar Bluff and $2,349,000 at Fort Leonard Wood.

$4,400,000 added in conference for a dial central office facility at the Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center in Denver in the state of House appropriator David Skaggs (D-CO)

$4,200,000 added in conference for pier improvements at New London Submarine base in the state of the House appropriator Rosa DeLauro (D-CT). (Pork Ahoy!)

$3,815,000 added in conference for Army National Guard projects in the state of Senate Subcommittee Chairman Jim Sasser (D-TN): $1,357,000 for the armory in Milan; $1,157,000 for the armory in Tiptonville; $714,000 for the armory addition in Camden; and $587,000 for armory additions in Waverly.

$3,710,000 added in conference for the Army National Guard in Corpus Christi in the state of House appropriator Ron Coleman (D-TX)

$2,750,000 added in conference for an Air Force Reserve medical training facility at homestead Air force Base in the district of freshman House appropriator Carrie Meek (DFL).

XI. Transportation

$57,000,000 added in the Senate for the Appalachian Corridor improvement project, which includes $54,000,000 for West Virginia Corridor L road construction in the state of Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd (D-WV). That’s on top of the $50,000,000 in Energy and Water Appropriations (see page 9).

$22,400,000 added in the Senate for projects in the state of Subcommittee Ranking member Alfonse D’Amato (R-NY): $9,800,000 for the I-287 Cross-Westchester Expressway: $7,800,000 for the Mineola grade crossing project: $3,200,000 for the Schenectady Bridge; and $1,600,000 for a congestion mitigation project in Syracuse

$12,800,000 added in the house for the Baltimore-Washington Parkway demonstration project in the state of House appropriator Steny Hoyer (D-MD)

$8,500,000 added in conference for the Wheeling intermodal system in the state of Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd (D-WV)

$8,000,000 added in conference for the Los Angeles union Station intermodal bus facility in the state of house appropriator Julian Dixon (D-CA)

$3,000,000 added in the Senate for the Orlando Streetcar project (OSCAR in the district of Rep. Bill McCollum (R-FL); a five-car, two mile circular transit system with an estimated cost of $30-$42 million if completed as planned by 2010. Currently a free shuttle bus service, carrying 1,700 riders per day, serves this same route; projections for paid ridership upon completion of OSCAR are 5,400 riders a day. (A streetcar named outrageous!)

$3,000,000 added in Conference for fuel cell buses, Georgetown University, a private institution in Washington, D.C., is a beneficiary of this program.

$1,750,000 added in conference for the Kauai motorpool facility in the state of Senate appropriator Daniel Inouye (D-HI)

$1,750,000 added in conference for the Albuquerque intermodal center in the state of Senate appropriator Pete Domenci (R-MN)

XII. Treasury and Postal Service

In an October 1993 report, the General Accounting Office (GAO) reported that U.S. courthouse are overstaffed and, in many districts, overbuilt. The GAO concluded that “taxpayers risk overpaying by at least $1.1 billion in the next ten years for courthouses 12 that the Judiciary cannot justify because its methods for predicting its need for space are so badly flawed.” Even in the face of this scathing report, Congress seems to find ample tax dollars to fund pork projects. Total expenditures for FY 1994 courthouse construction are over $756 million; a partial list follows:

$120,000,000 added in the Senate for a courthouse in Phoenix in the state of Subcommittee Chairman Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ). Mistaking the project for the Taj Mahal of justice, planners overestimated the building’s size by 38,441 square feet, a descision that will mean an additional $9 million in construction costs and an additional $1 million per year in maintenance costs. (Perhaps the retiring Senator sees a federal judgeship in his future.)

$96,390,000 for a U.S. courthouse in Portland in the State of Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Mark Hatfield (R-OR)

$41,525,000 for federal construction projects in the state of Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd (D-WV): $36,000,000 for a federal building and U.S. courthouse, including renovations to the existing facility in Wheeling, and $5,525,000 for “nonprospectus construction grant projects.”

$12,093,000 added in the House for a federal building and site acquisition and design of a U.S. courthouse in Scranton in the district of Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Joseph McDade (R-PA)

Other treasury/ Postal Service pork projects include:

$6,000,000 added in the house for flexiplace work telecommuting center projects in Southern Maryland, northwestern Virginia, Hagerstown, MD, and Fredericksburg, VA, in the states of House Subcommittee Chairman Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and appropriator James Moran (D-VA). This is a demonstration project meant to relieve congestion in the Washington, D.C. area by allowing federal employees to work closer to their homes.

$4,740,000 added by the Senate for the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Tucson in the state of Subcommittee Chairman Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ). These funds are for construction of a new, unrequested center located 30 miles from the current site; $1,475,000 for nine classrooms; 1,025,000 for student support facilities; $950,000 for administrative support; $825,000 for other support facilities; and $465,000 for high-speed driving ranges.

$2,400,000 added by the house for design and construction of a federal parking facility to provide 200 parking spaces for 18 federal employees in Burlington, in the district of Subcommittee Ranking Member Jim Lightfoot (R-IA). If you build it, they will come)

$1,500,000 for a “public entity” in Hilo to construct government facilities in the state of Senate appropriator Daniel Inouye (D-HI). If they told us anything more, they’d have to kill us.)

XIII. Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development

$31,000,000 added in the house for a clinical addition at the Ann Arbor VA Medical Center in the district of House Education and Labor Committee Chairman William Ford (D-MI)

$16,000,000 added in the Senate for a 60-bed nursing home unit at the VA Medical Center in the state of Senate Appropriator Daniel Inouye (D-HI)

$7,000,000 above the budget request for NASA’s Earth Observing System Data information System (EOSDIS), a program that has been criticized by GAO for a lack of cost-effectiveness. Many scientists believe this research can be done for less than onefifth the current cost.

$6,750,000 added in the Senate for a 60 bed nursing home care unit at the Prescott VA Medical Center in the state of Senate appropriator Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ)

$5,000,000 for the Consortium for International Earth Science Informational Network (CIESIN) in MI which, at the request of the Senate, will become the ninth Distributed Active Center for socioeconomic activities within the EOSDIS. Prior to 1993, CIESIN received over $100 million in unauthorized funding.

$3,500,000 added a joint project to relocate medical school functions and renovate facilties at the Mountain Home VA Medical Center in the state of Senate appropriator in Jim Sasser (D-TN)

$2,300,000 above the budget request for decontamination technologies in the New York/ New Jersey Harbor in the states of Senate appropriators Alfonse D’Amato (-NY) and Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ).

Historical Trends