(Washington, D.C.) – Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), America’s largest taxpayer watchdog group, today announced House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) as the recipient of its February “Porker of the Month” award.  Gephardt earned the award for pilfering $275 million from the defense budget for five F-15 fighters the Pentagon doesn’t need.  The planes are to be built at a Boeing plant located in Gephardt’s home district of St. Louis.

“Given his self-righteous rhetoric about protecting the poor, you would think that Gephardt would be the first to oppose multimillion-dollar corporate handouts,” noted CAGW President Thomas Schatz.  “Instead, he seems to revel in it, taking credit for using our limited defense dollars on projects the Air Force doesn’t even want.”

Minority Leader Gephardt has long portrayed himself as a crusader against corporate welfare, remarking late last year that, “[t]he people who get the real treats are corporations and the wealthy.”  However, his voting record belies the rhetoric.  Over the years, he has consistently rejected attempts to eliminate such corporate giveaways as the Market Access Program and the Advanced Technology Program.  Elimination of these two programs alone would save taxpayers $942 million over five years.

“Clearly, Rep. Gephardt has no compunction about spending hundreds of millions for equipment the Pentagon doesn’t need while thousands of men and women in uniform are so underpaid they are forced to live on food stamps,” Schatz stated.  “For putting special interests before the plight of taxpayers and military personnel, CAGW presents Minority Leader Gephardt with its ‘Porker of the Month’ award.”

CAGW’s “Porker of the Month” award is a dubious honor, given to lawmakers and government officials who have shown a blatant disregard for the interests of taxpayers.  Recipients of the award are listed on an online “Hall of Shame,” located at CAGW’s website, www.cagw.org.  Past recipients of the award include First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton (D) and Senate Appropriations Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska).

For more information, see CAGW's web site at www.cagw.org.  CAGW is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.