CAGW’s 2008 Pig Book released
Posted on April 8th, 2008 by bile Categories and Tags: Uncategorized, Alabama, Alaska, CAGW, Charles B. Rangel Center, Citizens Against Government Waste, Congress, corporatism, Daniel Inouye, Democratic Party, France, Hawaii, Las Vegas, Legislative Branch, lobbyists, Lobster Institute, Maine, Mississippi, Montana Sheep Institute, North Dakota, Paris, Pig Book, politics, Post Office, Public Service, Republican Party, Richard Shelby, Senate Appropriations Committee, subsidies, taxes, Ted Stevens, Thad Cochran, Tom Schatz, Washington, www.cagw.org, your moneyCitizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today released the 2008 Congressional Pig Book, the latest installment in an 18-year exposé of pork-barrel spending.
“When Congress adopted earmark reforms last year, there was hope that the number and cost of earmarks would be cut in half. By any measure, that has not occurred,” said CAGW President Tom Schatz.
In fiscal year 2008, Congress stuffed 11,610 projects (the second highest total ever) worth $17.2 billion into the 12 appropriations bills. That is a 337 percent increase over the 2,658 projects in fiscal year 2007, and a 30 percent increase over the $13.2 billion total in fiscal year 2007. Alaska led the nation with $556 in pork per capita ($380 million total), followed by Hawaii with $221 ($283 million) and North Dakota with $208 ($133 million). CAGW has identified $271 billion in total pork since 1991.
For the first time, the names of members of Congress were added to the projects. The top three porkers were members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, beginning with Ranking Member Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) with $892 million; Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) with $469 million; and Senator Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) with $465 million.
The Pig Book Summary profiles the most egregious examples, breaks down pork per capita by state, and presents the annual Oinker Awards. All 11,610 projects are listed in a searchable database on CAGW’s website www.cagw.org. Examples of pork in the 2008 Pig Book include:
$3 million for The First Tee;
$1,950,000 for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service;
$460,752 for hops research;
$211,509 for olive fruit fly research in Paris, France;
$196,000 for the renovation and transformation of the historic Post Office in Las Vegas;
$188,000 for the Lobster Institute in Maine; and
$148,950 for the Montana Sheep Institute.“Americans do not send their hard-earned tax dollars to Washington so that Sen. Daniel Inouye can bring home $173 million in defense pork and receive the Pacific Fleeced Award or get sapped by $4.8 million going to wood utilization research, on which the government has spent $91 million since 1985,” concluded Schatz.
Only the 2nd highest pork year? Come on Congress… next year go for gold. Not like you have to tax us directly for much of it.
5 Responses to “CAGW’s 2008 Pig Book released”
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April 8th, 2008 at 8:40 am
the audacity of these people… it’s almost enough to make people stop paying taxes… almost.
April 8th, 2008 at 11:04 am
invisipunk, you should stop paying your taxes. I promise I won’t report you. Oh by the way could I have your address and social security number? Also, what time of day are you most likely to be home, maybe 3:00 AM? Do you have any military training in dealing with tear gas? Just curious.
April 8th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
I’m not saying that I’d stop paying taxes, or faulting anyone else for paying taxes, especially considering my low effective tax rate and lack of motivation to take up arms against the government. I’m saying that story after story about government waste just serves to frustrate and not bring about any real change, (atleast no change that I’m aware of). For me it’s gone from frustration to just laughing it off as "haha, that’s government for ya. wastefull as usual".
April 8th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
You don’t need to take arms against the government to not pay taxes. Millions don’t.
The reason nothing changes is because people are more concerned with the government handouts than waste. If they bothered paying any attention to things most of them would have more wealth without it.
April 8th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
I’m starting to think that if everyone at the same time began to ignore the aspects of government that they don’t like, it would go away. That or there would be a lot of unrest that’s sure to instigate something.