Pig Book Pork Spending List Includes Money for Second Submarine
PIG-CONNECTICUT
New London Day
Erin Kutz
Boston University Washington News Service
April 2, 2008
WASHINGTON – Wasteful government spending grew 30 percent in the budget for fiscal year 2008, said government watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste when it released its Pig Book Wednesday.
Its listing of such spending includes money designated for spending in Connecticut to accelerate construction of a second Virginia-Class submarine.
The 2008 Pig Book listed $17.2 billion in what it dubbed pork-barrel spending on 11,610 projects—the second-highest number of such projects since the organization first compiled the Pig Book in 1991.
The group defines pork as spending that met at least one of these conditions: it was requested by only one chamber of Congress, it was not specifically authorized, it was not competitively awarded, it was not requested by the president or greatly exceeded the president’s request, was not the subject of congressional hearings and served only a local or special interest.
This definition encompasses spending earmarks, the practice of designating money for local or special-interest projects.
In a press conference featuring two live pigs and a panel of legislators, Thomas Schatz, the organization’s president, lamented this year’s ballooned pig book. The 2007 fiscal year budget included fewer than 3,000 earmarked projects, totaling $13.2 billion.
This year, Connecticut ranked 27th overall, jumping eight spots from 35 in 2006. More than $134 billion in pork barrel spending was designated for the state, amounting to $38.37 per capita. The national average was $33.77.
Alaska and Hawaii ranked first and second, rankings they’ve maintained since 2000, when Citizens Against Government Waste started calculating pork per capita.
“It all seems pretty funny and amusing until you realize that this money don’t come from nowhere,” said Rep. John Campbell (R-Calif.), suggesting that taxpayers must pick up the bill.
In January of last year, Congress approved a resolution for fiscal year 2007 that called for sharply limiting earmarked spending. Some members of Congress also have pledged not to earmark spending.
Because members of Congress were recently required to attach their name to their earmarks, this year’s report is the first that totals each legislator’s earmarks, though 464 undisclosed projects still made it through. The five Senate members who garnered the most dollars in pork barrel spending are all members of the Appropriations Committee, as were the top three in the House, Schatz said, who added that pork barrel spending is not confined to one party.
Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) had 40 pork barrel project, totaling $69 million, listed in the Pig Book. In addition, the Pig Book cited his success in including in the defense budget $588 million to accelerate construction of a second Virginia-class submarine, even though the project was technically undisclosed.
Courtney said he went through the appropriate subcommittees, committees and both chambers to get the funding. “We totally played by the rules,” he said.
“I am passionate in my conviction that we produced a budget that is not only good for Connecticut but for the American taxpayer and the American Navy,” Courtney said of the fiscal year 2008 submarine budget.
He also pointed to the dredging grants the Old Saybrook and Mystic harbors garnered through earmarking. Although he said he’s “not a fan of earmarked spending,” the much- needed projects, he added, could not be achieved in the normal operating budget and the “earmarking process was the only safety valve.”
Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) brought in $149.4 million for 101 projects and Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) pulled in $129.2 million for 75 projects.
“I support earmarks that promote the public good and provide much-needed services to Connecticut citizens,” Lieberman said in a statement. “The improved disclosure process has increased transparency and helped guarantee that the projects included in funding bills are responsible and beneficial. Any efforts to reform earmarks should include high levels of scrutiny and oversight.”
Some of the examples Citizens Against Government Waste highlighted as egregious were $1,950,000 put through by Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) for a public service center named after him, $3 million that House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) earmarked in the defense bill for a golf program and $211,509 Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) inserted in a spending bill for research on olive fruit flies.
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