NH Spending Labeled Pork
WASHINGTON, April 09–Members of Congress were accused of “porking out” during the past fiscal year, with yesterday’s release of the 2001 Congressional Pig Book. New Hampshire, with almost $100 million appropriated for various projects, was ranked the 11th highest pork-receiving state on a per capita basis.
The Pig Book, produced by the Washington-based non-profit group Citizens Against Government Waste, revealed an increase in so-called pork-barrel spending on a state-by-state basis.
At a press conference yesterday, Senator John McCain, R-AZ, whose 2000 presidential primary campaign focused largely on the elimination of pork spending, criticized fellow Congressmen for circumventing the appropriations process to “earmark” funds for their state’s projects.
“Any project that is inserted into a federal appropriation without the budgetary process or the appropriations process is pork,” said Sean Rushton, the media director for Citizens Against Government Waste. He called the unauthorized earmarks “items that individual members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees add illegally to the appropriations billá and tend to be frivolous uses of taxpayer dollars or kickbacks to interests in their home state.”
The report defines pork spending broadly, requiring an earmarked appropriation to meet only one of the organization’s seven criteria. As a result, many of the appropriations are listed as pork simply for having been added in after the presidential budget was approved.
The number of earmarks added to appropriations bills has skyrocketed in the past few years, Rushton said. Appropriators inserted 8,341 projects into the 13 appropriations bills, an increase of 32 percent over last year’s total of 6,333 projects, costing taxpayers an estimated $20.1 billion.
Among New Hampshire projects labeled “pork” were the downtown Keene ice arena ($140,000), the cleanup of the Industrial Heritage Corridor Brownfields in Keene ($500,000), and funds for a wastewater treatment facility in Jaffrey ($1,000,000).
U.S. Senator Judd Gregg, R-N.H., secured the funds to assist restoration of the Keene Brownfields through his position as ranking member of the Senate Commerce Appropriations Subcommittee.
“I don’t see it as pork at all. We’re bringing the property back into full use, versus having urban sprawl and the abandonment of downtown areas,” Keene city manager John MacLean said. “You might think it’s pork-barrel spending, but it’s not.”
Tom Rodenhauser, director of the Monadnock Ice Center Association, defended the appropriation of federal funds to build and operate the proposed Keene ice arena. “We’re building a community ice rink, and to anyone against providing opportunities for kidsá I wouldn’t call this government waste; I mean it’s laughable. This is community redevelopment.”
Last year’s report marked New Hampshire as the 13th highest pork spender on a per capita basis, two spots lower than this year. Though the report suggests the state is increasingly wasting taxpayer money, some see it as a sign of New Hampshire’s strong congressional advocacy.
“This is a clear indication of how effective the New Hampshire delegation is, and how worthy the projects are that are submitted, and how well-prepared and capable the people of New Hampshire are,” said Congressman Charles Bass, R-N.H., who assisted in securing the grant to build the Keene ice rink.
Congressman John Sununu, R-N.H., who sits on the House Appropriations Committee, defended the federal role in mandating funds for local projects.
“I think that simply because a member of Congress makes a request for a local priority, it doesn’t mean funding isn’t going to be well used or that it’s not well-spent,” Sununu said. “I think every project needs to stand on its own merits.”
The group contends that if congressional delegates seek funds for projects in their home states, it should be done through the proper authorization and budget process and not in conference committees.
“We don’t say that it’s wrong for members of the House and Senate to fight for their local and state interests, but they should be forced to do it in a transparent way, in a fair way that guarantees that there’s at least a certain amount of accountability when public money gets spent,” Rushton said.
Senator Gregg said he would “continue to support and fund worthwhile projects in New Hampshire.”
“To rephrase the words of Daniel Webster,” Gregg said in a statement, “‘It is, sir, as I have said, a small state. And yet there are those of us who love it!’”
Published in The Keene Sentinel, in New Hampshire
