Pork Alert: VA/HUD; CAGW's Pork Patrol Takes a Closer Look at Fiscal 2004 VA/HUD Pork 8/28/2003
From: Mark Carpenter or Tom Finnigan of the Citizens Against Government Waste, 202-467-5300, http://www.cagw.org WASHINGTON, Aug. 28 -- The House of Representatives passed its version of the 2004 Veterans Affairs/Housing and Urban Development (VA/HUD) spending bill in July. As usual, the 63 members of the House Appropriations Committee penciled in more than their fair share of funding for pet projects in their home districts. CAGW has identified 580 such projects totaling more than $243 million. Given the estimated $480 billion budget deficit, one hopes that some of this pork is ferreted out in the conference report. But if history is any guide, the pork pie will only get bigger as the budget process continues. So take a big whiff, taxpayers, and smell the bacon! -- Pigs in Space. The space shuttle Columbia disaster and related fallout for funding and management at NASA is just the latest fiasco in the agency's recent history. NASA lost the Mars Polar Lander in 1999 and the Mars Climate Orbiter was ruled out due to the metric system three months later. NASA wrote off a $246 million infrared telescope and continues to endure delays and cost overruns at the International Space Station. This string of failures has not stopped Congress from earmarking a galaxy of pork barrel projects here on Earth. This year's VA/HUD bill contains 62 unrequested NASA projects costing taxpayers a total of $129 million, many of which have nothing to do with space, including: $1.5 million for the BizTech High Tech Business Incubator; $750,000 for the Earth Alert Research Project; and $250,000 to develop educational software for grade school students. -- Cramerica Industries. Rep. Robert E. "Bud" Cramer (D-Ala.) apparently does not worry much about the deficit. His main concern seems to be shipping federal money back to his home district in Alabama. And, being an appropriator, he gets first grab at the goodies. This year, Rep. Cramer secured ten projects totaling $2,535,000 for his constituents and political backers, including: $300,000 for streetscape, beautification, and greenways in Huntsville; $200,000 for building construction at the Burrit Center; $150,000 for the North Alabama Planetarium Initiative; and $75,000 for a Native American Exhibit. This Bud's for you! -- Modern Art Masterpiece. House Appropriations Committee member Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.) emerged from the usual backroom dealings with two pricey projects: $500,000 for the NASA Education Resource Center for Southeast Missouri State University; and $175,000 for the painting of a mural on a flood wall in Cape Girardeau. The mural of this story should be waste not, want not. -- Pig Droppings. Appropriations Committee members were kind enough to share some of the loot with their fellow representatives. Some of these projects deserve mention for their sheer ridiculousness and inventiveness: $250,000 for purchase and renovation of the Canadian National Railroad Depot in Homewood, Illinois; $225,000 to build the Bill Bradley Sports and Recreation Center at Ramapo College, New Jersey; $150,000 for a replica mule barn in LaSalle, Illinois; $100,000 to study the feasibility of adding a visitor's center for LaRue County Fiscal Court in Kentucky; $75,000 for renovation of the historic Coca-Cola building in Macon, Georgia; and $75,000 for a recreation pavilion for an RV resort in Douglas, Oregon. Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, mismanagement and abuse in government. | |