Sen. Ted Stevens is Porker of the Month for July '03 Says Citizens Against Government Waste

7/10/2003

From: Mark Carpenter of the Citizens Against Government Waste, 202-467-5300; http://www.cagw.org

WASHINGTON, July 10 -- Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today named Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) its July Porker of the Month for promising to filibuster a resolution, if it reaches the Senate floor, which would reduce pork-barrel spending. As the top porker per capita in the U.S. Congress, Sen. Stevens is staying true to form by trying to deny a vote on a reasonable budget reform measure designed to end abusive earmarks in appropriations bills.

The resolution, S. Res. 173, would allow any senator to raise a point of order against appropriations earmarks. Such items are not specifically authorized by law, and also skirt the competitive process. Introduced by the Senate's number one pork-barrel critic, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz), and co-sponsored by Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), the resolution would require 60 votes to keep an earmark in a bill after a senator objected to it. S. Res. 173 would give all senators the opportunity to object to provisions inserted by members of the Appropriations Committee into the spending bills and subject them to a separate vote.

Sen. Stevens has vowed to defend his oft-exercised ability to bring home the bacon by tying up the Senate in knots with a filibuster. In fiscal 2003, CAGW awarded Sen. Stevens the Gold Rush Award for smuggling a whopping $393 million in pork back to Alaska, making it the national leader in pork per capita at $611 for each person in his home state. Using money he filched from federal taxpayers this year, Stevens' allocations included $2,000,000 for the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, $750,000 for sea otter research in Alaska and $225,000 for the Beluga Whaling Committee. Over the past three years alone, Sen. Stevens has brought home $1.3 billion in pork. Already looking to set another pork per capita record this year, Sen. Stevens has added $42.3 million to the fiscal 2004 Military Construction Appropriations bill, including $1.4 million to replace a working dog kennel at Elmendorf Air Force Base. It is going to be a ruff year for taxpayers.

While lawmakers like Sen. Stevens bark about the constitutional prerogative of Congress to determine how to spend money, appropriators should not be the final word. Pork projects are disproportionately distributed to members of the appropriations committees, and therefore do not benefit all representatives and senators. Instead of railing about Sen. McCain's resolution, Sen. Stevens should be asking, which is more important: studying Alaskan sea otters or ensuring that no American military family qualifies for food stamps?

Due to his lack of respect for government accountability and apparent indifference to the reality that federal money comes from taxpayers across the country, not just Alaska, CAGW names Sen. Ted Stevens July Porker of the Month.

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