Pork-watcher skewers military construction bills

Citizens Against Government Waste, a nonpartisan budget watchdog group, issued its first "Pork Alert" of the fiscal 2004 appropriations season Monday for House and Senate bills funding military construction, arguing the bills contain several examples of wasteful spending.

They cited $1.5 million for a chapel expansion at Alaska's Fort Wainwright and $1.4 million to replace a dog kennel at Elmendorf Air Force Base, also in the home state of Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens.

The statement also said Senate Military Construction Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, "fought like Davy Crockett" to steer home items such as a $13.6 million fitness center at Randolph Air Force Base and said ranking member Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., procured $5 million for the main gate at Los Angeles Air Force Base.

Also cited were House appropriators such as Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., for a $2.9 million fire station at Fort Benning and House Military Construction Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Joseph Knollenberg, R-Mich., for $1.1 million for an Army National Guard readiness center in Pontiac, located in his district.