Stop Pork Barrel Spending to Fiance National Seaport Security
John W. Slagle
April 26, 2006
The recent news coverage that the U.S. Border Patrol as well as the U.S. Coast Guard will have an additional 2 billion dollars for national as well as seaport security is a step in the right direction. Some of the monies will come out of the Department of Defense budget which is a source of aggravation to many elected officials. Senator Clinton believes our troops will not have sufficient equipment for military operations in Iraq per her statement on CNN. She also believes in Control of our Nation?s Borders or Open Borders depending on what audience the Senator will be addressing.
In FY 2006, 64 billion taxpayer dollars were spent on ? pork projects? by both Republicans as well as Democrats, 12,852 projects per CAGW.
CAGW was created in 1984 By J. Peter Grace and Jack Anderson after Mr. Grace presented to President Ronald Reagan the 2,478 findings and recommendations of the Grace Commission (formally known as the President?s Private Sector Survey on Cost Control). If all of the Grace Commission?s recommendations had been implemented, it would have saved $424.4 billion over three years. In fact, savings from the Grace Commission and other CAGW-proposed recommendations have saved $825 billion over 22 years.
Most Americans have heard of ?Pork Barrel Spending? but few understand the costly useless projects that are a part of political business . Citizens Against Government Waste, presents facts too lengthy to list in a yearly disclosure aptly called the Pig Book. From $50,000 pork studies to million dollar projects, the disclosure reads like Riply?s Believe it or Not. A $223 Million Dollar Alaskan Bridge in 2005 that led to nowhere was a classic. Homeless Americans in New Orleans,levees destroyed yet a Bridge in Alaska.
In the past, Congress has shortchanged our troops, disaster victims, and taxpayers by including self-serving pork projects in emergency spending bills,? CAGW President Tom Schatz said. ?Maybe this time, the widespread devastation and loss of life will shame them into forgoing egregious spending that will hinder recovery efforts and add to the deficit.?. Re: Hurricane Katrina 2005. Congressional Testimony.
The seven-point criteria to classify a project as pork-barrel spending were developed in conjunction with the bipartisan Congressional Pork-busters Coalition. They are:
Emergency supplemental bills have become a magnet for pork because they do not count against House and Senate budget caps and such bills are always signed by the President. Past examples include:
Frivolous habits of congressional appropriators may seem only mildly abhorrent when taken as a snapshot, one project at a time. However, when these projects and their congressional sponsors are examined over a period of time, trends begin to emerge that expose pork to be at best redundant and at worst futile, scandalous, criminal, and genuinely hurtful to the American public, the American soldier, and the American taxpayer? stated Tom Schatz.
If politicians could control their unbridled self interest pork barrel spending habits on questionable nonsense for a year, the U.S. order Patrol and the U.S. Coast Guard could receive needed equipment and personnel without tapping the DOD budget.
64 billion dollars in Pork projects for 2005 could be better spent than ?studying the mating habits? of a mosquito, why Teens like Gothic or building an indoor Midwest Rain Forest.
In FY 2006, 64 billion taxpayer dollars were spent on ? pork projects? by both Republicans as well as Democrats, 12,852 projects per CAGW.
CAGW was created in 1984 By J. Peter Grace and Jack Anderson after Mr. Grace presented to President Ronald Reagan the 2,478 findings and recommendations of the Grace Commission (formally known as the President?s Private Sector Survey on Cost Control). If all of the Grace Commission?s recommendations had been implemented, it would have saved $424.4 billion over three years. In fact, savings from the Grace Commission and other CAGW-proposed recommendations have saved $825 billion over 22 years.
Most Americans have heard of ?Pork Barrel Spending? but few understand the costly useless projects that are a part of political business . Citizens Against Government Waste, presents facts too lengthy to list in a yearly disclosure aptly called the Pig Book. From $50,000 pork studies to million dollar projects, the disclosure reads like Riply?s Believe it or Not. A $223 Million Dollar Alaskan Bridge in 2005 that led to nowhere was a classic. Homeless Americans in New Orleans,levees destroyed yet a Bridge in Alaska.
In the past, Congress has shortchanged our troops, disaster victims, and taxpayers by including self-serving pork projects in emergency spending bills,? CAGW President Tom Schatz said. ?Maybe this time, the widespread devastation and loss of life will shame them into forgoing egregious spending that will hinder recovery efforts and add to the deficit.?. Re: Hurricane Katrina 2005. Congressional Testimony.
The seven-point criteria to classify a project as pork-barrel spending were developed in conjunction with the bipartisan Congressional Pork-busters Coalition. They are:
- The project was requested by only one member of Congress;
- The project was not specifically authorized;
- The project was not competitively awarded;
- The project was not requested by the President;
- The project greatly exceeds the President?s budget request or the previous year?s funding;
- The project was not the subject of a hearing; and,
- The project only serves a local or special interest.
Emergency supplemental bills have become a magnet for pork because they do not count against House and Senate budget caps and such bills are always signed by the President. Past examples include:
- In April 2005, Congress passed the $80 billion Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Tsunami Relief (H.R. 1268), which included $25 million for the Fort Peck Fish Hatchery in Montana and $500,000 for the oral history of the Negotiated Settlement Project at University of Nevada Reno and the Fire Sciences Academy in Elko, Nevada.
- Fiscal 2003 Emergency Supplemental portion of the fiscal 2004 Legislative Branch Appropriations Act. President Bush requested $1.9 billion to help cover natural disasters, homeland security, and costs associated with the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) grabbed $1.4 million for three projects in Pennsylvania, including $1 million to establish centers of excellence for the treatment of autism and $200,000 for the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine for a minority outreach program.
- In April 2003, Congress passed a $78.5 billion War Supplemental Appropriations bill. Lawmakers shamefully seized the opportunity to tack on funds for 29 unrelated projects, which cost more than $348 million, including: $110 million for the National Animal Disease Center in Ames, Iowa; $22.7 million for a Capitol power plant; and $200,000 for Light of Life Ministries in Allegheny County, Pa.
- In 2005, An Alaskan bridge, dubbed the "Bridge to Nowhere" would connect one small town to a tiny island. It received $223 million in the highway bill that Congress passed . The second bridge, named "Don Young's Way" in honor of its patron, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Don Young (R-Alaska), received about $230 million -- but that is just a down payment on a cost that could hit $1.5 billion.
Frivolous habits of congressional appropriators may seem only mildly abhorrent when taken as a snapshot, one project at a time. However, when these projects and their congressional sponsors are examined over a period of time, trends begin to emerge that expose pork to be at best redundant and at worst futile, scandalous, criminal, and genuinely hurtful to the American public, the American soldier, and the American taxpayer? stated Tom Schatz.
If politicians could control their unbridled self interest pork barrel spending habits on questionable nonsense for a year, the U.S. order Patrol and the U.S. Coast Guard could receive needed equipment and personnel without tapping the DOD budget.
64 billion dollars in Pork projects for 2005 could be better spent than ?studying the mating habits? of a mosquito, why Teens like Gothic or building an indoor Midwest Rain Forest.
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