Introduction

Taxpayers are being asked to sacrifice to reduce the deficit for the national good. This sacrifice includes substantial new taxes. Most Americans believe that Washington squanders a major chunk of each and every tax dollar and that their government is rampant with wasteful spending, bloated bureaucracy, mismanagement, inefficiency, and deceit. Americans are not willing to “contribute” more tax dollars to the federal incinerator without substantial sacrifice in Washington and changes in the way Washington works.

One of the most blatant examples of government waste is pork, which diverts scarce resources to questionable projects. Once these projects are funded, they grow like a cancer, consuming more and more tax dollars every year. Despite massive popular support for a line-item veto, Congress has not gotten the message. Why? Spending especially pork-barrel spending, wins friends and increases campaign coffers. Members of Congress may call this “investment” in infrastructure and research and development, but we know it’s just waste – and so do taxpayers.

Citizens are demanding a better return on their tax dollar “investment” and expect fiscal responsibility from the people they elect. It is no accident that many pork-barrelers in this report are now former members of Congress. Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) offers this booklet to American taxpayers so they know what they are buying. When they find out, they will demand an end to the piggish practices in porkland.

The 1993 Congressional Pig Book Summary outlines some of the most egregious examples of wasteful pork-barrel spending approved by a Congress claiming to have cut the budget to the bone. This partial listing is taken from the thirteen Fiscal Year 1993 appropriations bills. These items 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.

I. Agriculture

$3,311,000 for a Center for Tropical/Subtropical Agriculture at the University of Hawaii at Manoa

$1,524,000 for a National Research Facility in Iowa

$1,293,000 for a National Laboratory for environmentally Sound Production Agriculture at the University of Georgia at Tifton

$1,101,000 for a Plant Stress Lab at Texas Tech University

$582,000 for a grape importation facility at the University of California at Davis

The following special research grants were neither requested by the President, awarded competitively, nor specifically authorized:

$4,153,000 wood utilization (OR, MS, MI)

$2,865,000 Midwest plant biotechnology consortium

$2,035,000 human nutrition (NY, IA, LA)

$340,000 fish marketing (OR, RI)

$327,000 seafood (OR)

$250,000 perishable commodities (GA)

$250,000 potato utilization

$240,000 soil and water (OH)

$192,000 peach tree short life (SC)

$187,000 small fruit (OR, WA, ID)

$140,000 swine (MN)

$120,000 animal waste disposal

$100,000 dried bean (ND)

$100,000 farm computer technology (GA)

$99,000 maple (VT)

$90,000 apple quality (MI)

$80,000 rural housing needs (NE)

$70,000 urban pest (GA)

II. Commerce, Justice, and State

$1,500,000 added in conference for a Small Business Administration grant to the city of Worcester, MA for infrastructure, architectural, engineering, and associated costs for the expansion of the Worcester Centrum Exhibition Hall in the district of then-House appropriator Joe Early (D-MA)

$1,000,000 added in conference for construction of the Boston Biotechnology Innovation Center added at the request of House Rules Committee Chairman Joe Moakley (D-MA)

$1,000,000 added in conference for construction of the Mystic Maritime Education and Research Center at Mystic Seaport, CT in the district of Rep. Sam Gejdenson (D-CT)

$930,000 earmarked in conference for the New York City Public Library’s Science, Industry and Business Library in the State of Senate appropriator Alfonse D’Amato (RNY).

III. Defense

$58,000,000 to bail out millionaire New York Yankee owner George Steinbrenner’s American Ship Building Company in Tampa. The Navy and Maritime Administration opposed the payment, which was $20 million more than Steinbrenner was seeking in an ongoing lawsuit. Senate and House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairmen Daniel Inouye (D-HI) and John Murtha (D-PA) quietly added the money in conference; Steinbrenner’s generous campaign contributions and the hiring of two lobbyists with close ties to both legislators helped.

$40,000,000 for a similar bailout of Bethlehem Steel’s Sparrows Point, MD shipyard, in the state of Senate appropriator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)

$25,000,000 for an Arctic region supercomputer at the University of Alaska to study how to trap energy from the aurora borealis added by Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK). Despite a House vote to kill the program, Stevens convinced his colleagues to make it subject to authorization this year.

$8,000,000 added by House for the World University Games in New York ($6 million) and the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta ($2 million)

$5,000,000 added in conference for a demonstration site for an electiric vehicle technology program in the state of Senate appropriator Daniel Inouye (D-HI), out of a $25,000,000 program to develop electric cars and trucks for use on military bases.

$3,500,000 grant to University of Scranton in the district of House appropriator Joseph McDade (R-PA), one of the more than 25 earmarked grants worth over $175 million, despite efforts by Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sam Nunn (D-GA) to control university pork

$100,000 to connect Lowry Grove Mobile Home Park to the St. Anthony, MN municipal water supply system in the district of House appropriator (and new Budget Committee Chairman) Martin Olav Sabo (D-MN)

IV. District of Columbia

$13,779,000 for project management and $12,749,000 for design work, both allocated from capital outlays, to restore Library Plaza to allow for vehicular traffic

V. Energy and Water

$10,000,000 earmarked for the Center for Energy and Environmental Resources at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA in the state of Senate appropriator Bennett Johnston (D-LA)

$10,000,000 earmarked for the Ambulatory Research and Education Building at Oregon Health Sciences University, OR in the state of Senate appropriator Mark Hatfield (R-OR)

VI. Foreign Operations

$19,704,000 for the International Fund for Ireland requested, according to committee sources, by House Speaker Thomas Foley (D-WA). According to the bill, “The United States government has identified two priorities in its contribution to the fund: job creation and the leveraging of additional investment into the economy…It is apparent that the number of worthy projects will exceed the amount appropriated by Congress for fiscal year 1992 and that a further U.S. contribution could be productively used.” In the past, American taxpayer dollars have been used for golf video and pony trekking centers.

$15,000,000 to be made available in local currencies for the preservation and restoration of Egypt’s antiquities added by then-Senate appropriator Bob Kasten (R-WI)

VII. Interior

$13,000,000 requested by House appropriator Joseph McDade (R-PA) for Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, PA, which a former Smithsonian transportation curator has classified as a “third-rate collection in a place to which it has no relevance.”

$10,000,000 added in the Senate for the FDR Memorial in Washington, D.C., originally to be funded privately. A small stone monument already exists on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. as does the federally-supported FDR Library in Hyde Park, NY. According to FDR’s close friends, he did not want a monument erected in his honor.

$9,170,000 added in conference for the Southwestern Pennsylvania Heritage Preservation Commission in the district of House appropriator John Murtha (D-PA)

$3,500,000 ($2.9 million above the budget request) for a visitor center at Lyndon B. Johnson National Historic Park, TX in the district of Rep. J.J. Pickle (D-TX). The LBJ State Historic Park down the road already has a visitor center.

$2,500,000 added in conference for construction at Fort Necessity National Battlefield, PA in the district of House appropriator John Murtha (D-PA)

$2,000,000 for Walk on the Mountain added by House appropriator Norm Dicks (DWA). Visitors to this covered skywalk in downtown Tacoma, WA will be able to see Mt. Ranier National Park in the distance, but only on one of the 57 clear days a year in Tacoma. The cost per viewing day for one year $35,088.

VIII. Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education

$750,000 added in conference for a Glass Ceiling commission at the Department of Labor

$750,000 added to the Department of Labor in conference for the National Center for the Workplace

IX. Legislative Branch

$500,000 added in the Senate by Sen. Wendell Ford (D-KY) for a non-competitive grant directing the Superintendent of Documents to utilize the Owensboro, KY, community College Distance Learning Center to study enhancing public access to federal electronic information

$144,000 for Capitol grounds improvements including tree replacement and repairs to Olmstead fountains and planters

X. Military Construction

$117,180,000 for seven separate navy family housing construction projects added by Senate appropriator Daniel Inouye (D-HI). Hawaii was the biggest winner in this bill, receiving $209 million ($134 million more than the Pentagon request) for new base and family housing construction. In addition, the conferees cut nearly $200 million from the President’s request to improve existing housing and diverted it into new construction projects. Other base construction projects include:

$15,000,000 for phase one hospital replacement construction project at Elmendorf Air Force Base, AK in the state of Senate appropriator Ted Stevens (R-AK)

$14,000,000 to replace apron and hydrant system at Barksdale Air Force Base, LA in the state of Senate appropriator Bennett Johnston (D-LA)

$10,000,000 for phase one construction of a maintenance facility at Fort Gordon, GA in the state of then-Senate appropriator Wyche Fowler (D-GA)

$10,000,000 for phase one construction of an advanced system integration facility at Patuxent Naval Air Station, MD in the district of House appropriator Steny Hoyer (DMD)

$5,200,000 to repair an aircraft ramp at O’Hare International Airport, Chicago, IL requested by Senate only

XI. Transportation

$104,000,000, or 31 percent of total pork-barrel highway projects, included for Corridor G or H and Corridor L highway projects in the state of Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd (D-WV). An additional $47 million was added to the Appalachian Regional Commission by Sen. Byrd for highway construction.

$42,500,000 for the St. Louis METRO Link Projects in the home city of House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-MO). Although the line is expected to open this year, ridership forecasts have already fallen 40 percent and costs have increased 13 percent, according to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). Critics charge this project may likely have the worst cost-per-passenger ratio in the country.

$10,000,000 for the Jacksonville Automated Skyway Express system in the district of the-Rep. Charles Bennett (D-FL), although according to the FTA, “because of continuing concerns about the justification and local financial commitment of the remainder of this project, additional funding for Jacksonville is not recommended in FY 1993.”

$3,840,000 for a climbing lane and highway safety demonstration project in Tioga, PA (population 41,126) in the district of House appropriator Joseph McDada (R-PA)

$3,296,000 for the Newcastle-Vermillion Bridge connecting Newcastle, WY and Vermillion, SD, hometown of Rep. Tim Johnson (D-SD)

$3,200,000 for an Alabama highway bypass project in Jasper, AL in the district of House appropriator Tom Bevill (D-AL)

$800,000 for North Miami and North Miami Beach, FL bikepaths in the district of then- House Subcommittee Chairman William Lehman (D-FL)

XII. Treasury and Postal Service

$35,000,000 for a new U.S. Courthouse in Reno, NV in the state of Senate appropriator Harry Reid (D-NV)

$5,000,000 for a post office in Sun City West, AZ in the state of Senate Subcommittee Chairman Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ)

$3,118,000 for a U.S. Courthouse in Albuquerque, NM in the state of Senate appropriator Pete Domenici (R-NM)

XIII. Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development

The following HUD Special Purpose Grants were neither awarded competitively, specifically authorized, nor requested by the President; some also were added in conference. Then-HUD Secretary Jack Kemp, testifying before Congress on his budget said, “The practice of earmarking funds for specific private sector or nonprofit entities, or special purpose grants,…is inconsistent with the requirement imposed on the Department—at our request—for the awarding of discretionary funds through fair and open competition based on clear and understandable funding criteria.” Congress earmarked $260 million for these grants in FY 1993, a $110 million increase over FY 1992. Of the $260 million earmarked this year, $133,725,000 was added in conference. A partial listing follows:

$3,000,000 added in conference for an economic development project in Oregon City, OR including site acquisition, wetlands restoration, and final design and planning for a western frontier-Oregon Territory historical center in the district of then-House appropriator Les AuCoin (D-OR)

$2,000,000 for restoration of the Liberty Theater and Lucas Theater, both in the historic district of savannah, GA, in the district of then-House appropriator Lindsay Thomas (DGA)

$2,000,000 to the City of Toledo, OH to create a strong community anchor in the heart of the downtown, concentrating on restoring the Toledo Farmers’ Market and helping rehabilitate the nearby abandoned Portside Marketplace in the district of House appropriator Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)

$2,000,000 added in conference for the Community Development Resource Center at Robert Wesleyan College in Western Monroe County, NY in the state of Senate appropriator Alfonse D’Amato (R-NY)

$1,900,000 added in conference for the City of Mackinac Island, MI to restore historic buildings and for other municipal purposes in the district of then-Rep. Robert Davis

$1,500,000 added in conference at the request of Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to establish a Center for Pacific Rim Studies at the University of San Francisco, CA

$1,360,000 added in conference for renovation of Point Stadium in Johnstown, PA in the district of House appropriator John Murtha (D-PA)

$1,300,000 added in conference for Newburyport, MA for renovation/addition to police facilities in the district of then-Rep. Nick Mavroules (D-MA)

$250,000 for a water tower for the Joplin Industrial Park in Joplin, MO in the state of Senate appropriator Kit Bond (R-MO)

Historical Trends