Hodes, Shea-Porter Request $350 Million in Earmarks for New Hampshire
EARMARKS
New Hampshire Union Leader
Jillian Jorgensen
Boston University Washington News Service
April 16, 2009
WASHINGTON—New Hampshire’s congressional representatives are hoping to steer hundreds millions of federal dollars through the appropriations process and into the state to pay for projects ranging from environmental clean-up to development of military technology.
Members of the House of Representatives posted their fiscal year 2010 appropriations requests for their home states this month, and U.S. Reps. Carol Shea-Porter and Paul Hodes have requested more than $350 million between them for New Hampshire.
The members of the House were required to post their requests for appropriations earmarks on their Web sites. Shea-Porter’s requests were displayed under their own tab in the About the District section, right under the fiscal year 2009 earmarks she had requested and were approved. Hodes’ requests were tucked away in the press release section of his site.
Appropriation bills have not been passed yet, so the numbers on their sites are not final but only the amounts Hodes and Shea-Porter have requested. In the final bill, the totals may be cut and entire projects could be eliminated.
“We are going to get many fewer rewards than we have actually requested,” Hodes cautioned in a telephone interview.
In all, Hodes requested $227,764,731 in appropriations for the state, according to his office. The money would go to everything from purchasing three islands to add to the Lake Umbagog National Wildlife Refuge in Errol ($4.5 million) to helping the iRobot Corp. in Bedford, Mass., develop a “Warrior UGV” robot for soldiers that once designed, would be manufactured exclusively in Hudson, N. H. ($4 million).
Shea-Porter requested $156,086,964 in federal funds for the district, to pay for projects ranging from renovating a vacant landmark building in downtown Manchester by the New Hampshire Institute of Art ($2 million) to continuing to fund the Dare Mighty Things program that aims at improving National Guard and Army Reserve family readiness for deployment ($2.5 million).
“This year we focused on job creation,” Hodes said about the projects for which he decided to request funds. “The notion of a valid public purpose that I would hope is unarguable is really what I’m after.”
Many of the appropriations requests for New Hampshire are directed at defense and environmental projects. Hodes said such projects, especially those that create new technologies for the military, are important for the state.
“They are employing an awful lot of people in New Hampshire and doing awfully good, cutting-edge work to protect our troops,” he said.
Hodes and Shea-Porter jointly requested funds for two projects at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard: more than $7 million for improved security at the site, and more than $36 million for consolidation of the facility’s structural shops. Hodes requested an additional $23.1 million for a state-of-the-art “LEAN” waterfront support facility for submarines.
Hodes called the shipyard a “vital facility in our nation’s defense infrastructure.”
“We fought hard to keep it open and we want to keep it the best in the nation,” he said.
With earmarks and what its critics call pork-barrel spending a popular target of political outrage, Hodes said he chooses projects that he would be proud to stand on the floor of Congress and talk about.
“The most important thing is that members of Congress know their district and know the particular needs of the district,” he said. “I think it’s appropriate, in the limited way we do it, to make a congressionally directed investment in our district.”
“I’m quite proud of what we’ve been able to bring back to New Hampshire,” he said.
The Senate has not voted on appropriations bills for fiscal year 2010 yet. But this week, Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., a member of the Appropriations Committee, was criticized by the non-profit advocacy group Citizens Against Government Waste for earmarks he included in last year’s appropriations bills. The group releases a “Pig Book” each year, complete with a summary of what it lists as the porkiest projects.
The group cried “pork” over $6.7 million Gregg appropriated in the Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations bill, including money for law enforcement research and development, studies on the affect of climate change in New England’s Rare Alpine Zone, and prevention of the spread of exotic aquatic weeds. It also cited $285,000 Gregg appropriated for expansion of the Boys& Girls Club in Nashua.
“All of the appropriations requests I have submitted have been within the budget allocations for each bill and have not added to the deficit,” Gregg said in a statement. “As elected members of Congress, we should be able to prioritize how federal dollars are spent while adhering to the overall budget bottom line.”
Gregg’s office offered a thorough rebuttal to the pork charges, providing explanations of how each program the group highlighted benefits taxpayers and including statements from someone involved with each program highlighting the importance of Gregg’s support and the federal funds.
“I am proud to have supported federal funding that has protected thousands of acres of invaluable environmental lands, created much-needed jobs, helped law enforcement officials keep our state safe and dramatically improved educational opportunities for our children in New Hampshire colleges and universities,” Gregg’s statement continued.
“While I understand the frustration over wasteful spending, earmarks, when submitted through a fully transparent and uniform system, can guarantee that federal dollars are returned in a way which truly benefits the taxpayers,” the statement concluded.
The group’s broad definition of pork includes spending requested by only one chamber of Congress, not specifically authorized, competitively awarded or requested by the president, greatly exceeding the president’s budget request, not the subject of congressional hearings or serving only a special interest.
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