Omnibus Pork Alert: CAGW's Pork Patrol Takes Another Closer Look at Fiscal 2004 Consolidated Appropriations Act

1/7/2004

From: Mark Carpenter or Tom Finnigan, 202-467-5300, both of Citizens Against Government Waste

WASHINGTON, Jan. 7 -- It's been more than three months since the start of fiscal 2004, and what a surprise, Congress has yet to finish the appropriations process. Though they have missed their appropriations deadline and are faced with a $500 billion deficit, members are finding the time to pile on the pork. The House passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act for fiscal 2004 (H.R. 2673) on December 8, 2003, consisting of seven of the thirteen spending bills. However, the Senate is not expected to take action on the bill until January 20 when it reconvenes after a lengthy holiday recess. The 1,448-page bill totals $820 billion and is stuffed to the brim with parochial projects. Here are some examples of the pork in H.R. 2673:

-- $1,500,000 added by the House for Idaho State University for the Temporal Land Cover Change Research Program;

-- $1,300,000 added by the Senate for Iowa State University for the PIPELINES project;

-- $750,000 added by the Senate for Love, Inc. in Fairbanks, Alaska for a social service facility;

-- $500,000 added by the House for the Ohio View Consortium;

-- $240,000 added by the House for the City of Marathon, Fla. for water and wastewater infrastructure improvements for the Boot Key Municipal Harbor Development;

-- $300,000 added by the House for the City of Luverne, Ala. for sidewalks, street furniture and fagade improvements;

-- $200,000 added by the House for the City of Norwalk, Calif. for the Norwalk Reservoir Project;

-- $175,000 added by the House for the City of Lineville, Ala. for purchase and construction of a water tank;

-- $75,000 added by the House for East San Gabriel Valley Japanese Community Center in Calif. for construction of a social hall;

-- $75,000 added by the House for Ujima Ministries, Inc. in Mercer County, N.J. for facilities construction; and

-- $75,000 added by the House for Thomasville, Ga. for Historic Douglas High School Alumni Association Complex renovation.

CAGW will provide continuing updates on pork in the omnibus spending bill. For more information, please visit: http://www.cagw.org/site/PageServer?pagename=policy_porkbarrelreport.

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, mismanagement and abuse in government.