Government Waste is Down, Watchdog Group Says
CAGW
New Bedford Standard-Times
Valerie Sullivan
Boston University Washington News Service
March 7, 2007
WASHINGTON, March 7 —Government waste is down, Citizens Against Government Waste said in its 2007 Pig Book released Wednesday.
Thomas A. Schatz, the non-partisan, non-profit group’s president, said the dollar amount of pork-barrel projects in the federal budget is “the smallest it’s been since 1999.”
Mr. Schatz attributes the downturn to the efforts of members of Congress to reduce earmarks Still, Mr. Schatz said, pork-barrel spending – which his organization defines as inappropriate earmarks tucked into larger bills that bypass established budgetary procedures – has been by no means eliminated. “What we’re seeing is members still getting their projects passed through the back door,” he said. “This is what we have to watch out for.”
Unlike previous annual reports, this year’s was confined to the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security. The only appropriations bills Congress passed last year were for those two departments. Money for all other agencies and programs were included in an omnibus spending bill enacted this year after congressional leaders imposed a moratorium on earmarks.
The 2007 report questioned the funding of a Martha’s Vineyard port under the umbrella of defense spending. Port security grants increased 29 percent over the previous year. But a 2005 audit by the Department of Homeland Security shows that some of the grants “appear to be for a purpose other than the defense of terrorism,” Mr. Schatz said. The Martha’s Vineyard port does not appear to meet grant eligibility requirements, according to the audit, Mr. Schatz added..
“The culture of earmarks must be stopped,” Mr. Schwartz said. Describing pork-barrel spending as the “gateway drug” to government waste, he called for more transparency. “We’d like to see the request forms,” Mr. Schatz said.
Another highlight of the report’s findings was a project to improve the shelf life of vegetables. The project, tucked into the defense bill, carries a price tag of $1,650,000. The report also identified another $1,350,000 allocated for research on obesity in the military. “We thought they took care of that in basic training,” Mr. Schatz joked.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who spoke at the Citizens Against Government Waste‘s press conference, said that prudent spending is an important part of the way an administration operates. “I think the Republican Party lost the 2006 election because of our failure to control spending,” he said.
If he was elected president, “We might even have Porky over to the White House to announce earmarks,” Sen. McCain said, referring to the organization’s mascot. Citizens Against Government Waste also brought two live pigs to the conference and handed out snouts and rubber pig props.
Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., who also spoke at the conference, expressed his hope “to educate the public that earmarks… are bad for the country.”
“We’re supposed to evaluate and authorize spending,” he said. “We’re supposed to vote on it on the House floor, and if another member doesn’t like it, he can come down and debate it…. Eliminating earmarks will allow Congress to work like it’s supposed to.”
Mr. Schatz called earmarks a “relatively recent” phenomenon and said he was confident the “founding fathers were against them.” The members of Congress who are proponents of earmarks that are not publicly disclosed “know this funding would not survive the light of day,” which is why it is kept hidden, Mr. Schatz said.
“More can be done,” he said. “We’ll be watching, and the taxpayers will be watching.”
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