(Washington, D.C.) - At a news conference today, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) unveiled the 2003 Congressional Pig Book, its annual compendium of pork-barrel projects.

Total pork hidden in the 13 appropriations bills, 11 of which were lumped together into one omnibus spending bill and passed in February, is a record $22.5 billion, 12 percent higher than last year's eye-popping total of $20.1 billion.  Projects are also up 12 percent over last year, from 8,341 to 9,362.  That total is an increase of 337 percent over five years.

Since CAGW issued its first Pig Book in 1991, it has documented more than $162.5 billion in pork.  The 439 projects profiled in the Pig Book Summary will cost taxpayers more than $3.2 billion this year.

"As Americans pay their taxes this month," CAGW President Thomas A. Schatz said, "citizens should look at both parties in Congress with scorn.  Republicans and Democrats alike passed a record level of pork in February, knowing that a war with Iraq was likely and that the budget deficit would exceed $350 billion.  Our representatives and senators should be ashamed, especially the appropriators." 

"Congress failed in its most basic responsibility by not being able to approve a budget until almost six months into the fiscal year.  When they finally reached an agreement by combining 11 of the 13 appropriations bills, members had just a few hours to comb through the 1,500-page bill before voting.  As a result, juicy morsels of pork went unnoticed and unquestioned.  Now we know the usual suspects -- Sens. Stevens, Inouye, and Byrd -- led the way to new heights of excess.  They and many other members of Congress remain unrepentant in their abuses of power."

Examples of pork from this year's Pig Book:

-$33 million for the National Animal Disease Center in Ames, Iowa.

-$25 million for the International Fund for Ireland.

-$21 million for the Magdelana Ridge Observatory in New Mexico.

-$7.7 million for the Alaska Wide Mobile Radio Program.

-$6.8 million in YMCA and YWCA funding.

-$6.2 million for wood utilization research.

-$4 million for the International Fertilizer Development Center.

-$3 million for the Department of Defense's Tanker Lease Pilot Program.

-$2 million for the Kodiak Pier in Alaska.  

-$1 million for the Math Teacher Leadership Program in Iowa.

-$1 million for a DNA study of bears in Montana.  

-$1 million for the Alaska Native Justice Center.  

-$750,000 for the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

-$750,000 for University of Rhode Island Student Transportation Services.

-$700,000 for the Medical College of Wisconsin.

-$600,000 for the Charleston Bump in South Carolina.

-$500,000 for catfish health in Stoneville, Miss.

-$500,000 for the International Coffee Organization.  

-$350,000 for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.

-$250,000 to implement the National Preschool Anger Management Project.

-$202,500 for the National Peanut Festival Farigrounds in Dothan, Ala.

-$150,000 for the Vermont World Trade Center.

-$90,000 for the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame and Museum in Fort Worth, Texas.

-$50,000 for the Marion County Library in South Carolina to establish a computer lab.

-$50,000 for the Nevada Women's Fund in Reno.

Citizens Against Government Waste is the nation's largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.