(Washington, D.C.)  Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), America's largest taxpayer watchdog group, today announced both Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and Senate Appropriations committee member Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii) as the dual recipients of its March "Porker of the Month" award.  Alaska ranked first and Hawaii ranked second in per capita pork for fiscal year 2001 as well as fiscal year 2000.

"Senators Stevens and Inouye have gone on a reckless spending spree with our tax dollars year after year.  CAGW’s 2001 Congressional Pig Book shows Sen. Stevens with a whopping $766 per capita for his state, and Sen. Inouye with an astonishing $392 per capita.  That’s 30 times and 15 times the average of $25.50 per capita throughout the country.  Their pork barreling is so excessive it borders on the obscene, " CAGW President Thomas A. Schatz said.

Some of the bacon that Sen. Stevens brought home this fiscal year included: $2,500,000 for a pilot training simulator at the University of Alaska; $1,250,000 for Aleutian Pribilof church repairs; $750,000 for the Ketchikan Wood Technology Center; and $400,000 for a parking lot and pedestrian safety access in Talkeetna (population 300).
Sen. Inouye's spoils included: $4,500,000 for the construction of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory facility at Hilo; $2,500,000 for marijuana eradication; and $742,000 for the Native Hawaiian culture and arts program.

"With the new administration's focus on spending restraint, there is hope that Sen. Stevens' and Inouye's reign as the kings of pork for this year may be short-lived.  But given the senators' past prowess at porking out, taxpayers will have to be on the alert to prevent our tax dollars from being squandered," Schatz added.

For expecting the federal taxpayers to pay for local whims, for their constant fiscal irresponsibility, for fighting on the wrong side of this war, CAGW give Sen. Stevens and Sen. Inouye the dishonor of being March Porkers of the Month.

CAGW is a nonpartisan; nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, mismanagement and abuse in government.