House GOPer unveils effort to target pork in omnibus bill
Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., used a prominent roast of Congress's "pork barrel spending" practices Wednesday to announce plans to file a bill that would rescind some of the questionable appropriations in the fiscal 2003 omnibus spending bill.
Flake was joined by fellow Republicans, Rep. Patrick Toomey of Pennsylvania and Sen. John McCain of Arizona, at Citizens Against Government Waste's release of their annual "Pig Book," profiling a record $22.5 billion of what the organization considers pork barrel spending.
Once Flake's staff finishes combing through the 3,000-page omnibus appropriations bill, he plans to introduce a measure rescinding $13 billion to $20 billion in earmarked funds from the $397.4 billion omnibus package. Additionally, he hopes to alter House rules to require greater accountability from legislators when it comes to their pet projects.
"We can only amend what's in appropriations bills-we can't amend the report language, and most of the earmarks are hidden in the report language," he said. "So we want to have a process where we can go in and identify and force members to justify and defend these projects in an open forum on the House floor."
CAGW's report profiled project spending found in the past year's 13 appropriations bills, ranging from $4 million to the International Fertilizer Development Center in Alabama to $500,000 for a youth golfing program.
The organization reported a 12 percent increase in what they consider pork since last year, as the number of individual projects rose from 8,341 to 9,362. Known for its tongue-in-cheek assault on pork barrel politics, the report dished out honors such as "The French Fried Pork Award" for $180,000 funding to both the Franco-American Heritage Center and the Forum Francophone Des Affaires in Maine, and "The Taxpayers Get Shellacked Award" for the $9.5 million dedicated to various wood research projects.
Alaska and Hawaii received the dubious distinction of having the highest "pork-per-capita" spending for the second year in a row, with $610.99 and $283.43 per person, respectively.
"This is no surprise," CAGW President Tom Schatz said, since Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, can use his position to earmark funds for his state, such as $2 million in federal funds to the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. Likewise, Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, can use his leverage as a senior member of the committee to his state's benefit.
Stevens has questioned the organization's basis for placing spending items in the pork category. In a speech on the Senate floor last year, he pointed out that some of the Alaskan projects tabulated in the report include an Alaskan program protecting the endangered stellar sea lion and appropriations for runway lights to small communities reliant on airplanes for emergency services.
"I believe if it is wasteful to make sure a woman in hard labor can deliver her baby in a hospital with a doctor attending, instead of in an airplane hangar with the help of a mechanic, then I am guilty of asking the Senate for pork and proud of the Senate for giving it to me," he said.
CAGW defines "pork" as any project meeting at least one of the following criteria: being requested by only one chamber, not being specifically authorized, not being competitively awarded, not being requested by the president, greatly exceeding the president's budget request or the previous year's funding, not being subjected to congressional hearings, or serving only a local or special interest.
Especially now, with the ongoing war on terrorism and the war in Iraq, it is irresponsible of members of Congress to waste public money on pet projects, Schatz said, pointing out that in World War II and the Korean War, legislators made a conscious effort to curtail spending.