1999 Congressional Pig Book
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Summary
The Congressional Pig Book is CAGW's annual compilation of the pork-barrel projects in the federal budget. To qualify as pork, a project must meet one of seven criteria that were developed in 1991 by CAGW and the Congressional Porkbusters Coalition.
Introduction
During 1998 and early 1999, a political drama unlike any other in history played itself out in Washington. But as the eyes of taxpayers were riveted on scandal and impeachment, they may have missed the longest running show in town – the continuing play about pork-barrel spending that personifies politics, money, and power. Citizens Against Government Waste’s CAGW fiscal year (FY) 1999 Congressional Pig Book chronicles the latest spending spree masterminded by the House and Senate appropriators.
The 13 appropriations bills were the stages on which this taxpayer tragedy was set. But the appropriators weren’t acting – they were determined to make sure their backroomdealing network remained intact. In the saddest chapter of the year, Congress folded; eight appropriations bills into one 3,000 page Omnibus Appropriations Act. Members of the Senate and House barely had 24 hours to digest the bill before the final floor vote.
After the curtain closed on that Act and the other five appropriations bills, CAGW counted 2,838 pork-barrel projects totaling $12 billion in the FY 1999 budget. That’s an increase of 32 percent, or 695 projects, over FY 1998. Heeding CAGW’s call to stop squandering defense dollars, Pentagon pork was $2.4 billion less than FY 1998. That means there was $1.3 billion more in pork in all of the other bills combined, and those; bills contained some large slabs of bacon.
The top three increases from FY 1998 to FY 1999 were: Treasury/Postal from $16.5 million to $469.8 million (2,747 percent); District of Columbia from $8 million to $32.7 million (308 percent); and Energy and Water from $460 million to $950 million (106 percent).
Alaska led the country with a per capita total of $273.76 ($168 million). The runners-up were Hawaii with $155.56 per capita ($185 million) and Montana with $97.00 per capita ($85 million).
One of the leading actors in both dramas was appropriations veteran Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.). Sen. Byrd became the first billion-dollar man in Pig Book history by securing $97 million in pork in FY 1999 for his state. Though hailed as the voice of reason during the impeachment debate, demanding proper respect for “the process,” his $1 billion in pork came, as always, at the expense of the budget process. The senator’s act is wearing taxpayers’ wallets thin.
Taxpayers breathed a sigh of relief after the curtain came down on the 105th Congress. CAGW hopes that when the 106th Congress writes the script for the next two years, the usual snippets of pork remain on the cutting room floor.
The 366 projects, totaling $1.4 billion, in this year’s Congressional Pig Book Summary symbolize the most egregious examples of pork. As in previous years, all of the items in the Congressional Pig Book Summary meet at least one of CAGW’s seven criteria, but most satisfy at least two:
I. Agriculture
Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (CSREES) special research grants continue to be the cookie jar into which all appropriators dip their hands. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) officials have traditionally frowned on the practice of funding grants that cater to only one state or commodity. However, from Aegilops cylindricum to wool research, Congress continues to ignore USDA’s pleas. In addition, a large number of these grants have evolved into virtual entitlements. The tally for special research grants for fiscal year (FY) 1999 is $63 million, even though USDA officials only requested $12 million. Total agriculture pork in FY 1999 is $118.6 million,; or 1 percent less than in FY 1998.
Examples of wasteful CSREES grants in FY 1999 include:
$5,136,000 for wood utilization research (Idaho, Maine, Mich., Minn., Miss., N.C., Ore., & Tenn.). USDA officials concede that this research is nothing more than corporate welfare: “[t]he goal is to generate new knowledge that will benefit the forest industry.” This project has received $50.9 million since 1985. (Let’s knock on “wood utilization”; that this is the final year of funding.)
$1,000,000 for the viticulture consortium. More corporate welfare: USDA officials testified that “[t]he research being carried out is designed to help the viticulture and wine industries remain competitive in the U.S. and global market.” Since 1996, $2.8 million has been appropriated for such research.
$800,000 for the Food and Agriculture Policy Research Institute (FAPRI). USDA admits that no formal evaluation of this program has been conducted. Even though taxpayers fund FAPRI, there is no requirement that its studies be made available to the public, as evidenced by the lack of publicity surrounding its 1996 report criticizing the sugar program – which only became widely available after Congress vetoed to continue the controversial program.
$381,000 added by the House for the Center for Innovative Food Technology. Even though USDA officials testified in late February 1998 that the research projects would be completed in February 1998, “it is anticipated that funding will be required through fiscal year 2000 to achieve self-sufficiency.”
$330,000 for aquaculture research in Louisiana. USDA officials testified that “[t]he principal research indicates that there is a need to improve production efficiency for a number of important aquaculture species in order to enhance the profitability and sustainability of the aquaculture in this region.” So far, $2.8 million has been appropriated for such research. (Another prime example of parochial pork.)
$220,000 for lowbush blueberry research in Maine. Maine produces 99 percent of all lowbush blueberries in the United States, and the USDA admits that “[t]his work is of major local interest and helps maintain the continued availability and high quality of this native fruit commodity.” The only nonfederal support ($65,000) comes from the collection of blueberry tax funds. Since 1990, $2 million has been appropriated for such research.
$200,000 added by the Senate for the Center for Rural Studies in the state of Senate appropriator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). A portion of this grant money is to be used for analytical reports to guide the development of Vermont retail shopping areas and strategies for using the World Wide Web to disseminate information. No formal evaluation of this project has been undertaken by the USDA. Since 1992, $437,000 has been appropriated for this research.
$131,000 added by the Senate for agricultural diversification and specialty crops in the state of Senate appropriator Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii). Along with their “lei project,” researchers are also trying to obtain marketing orders for Maui onion growers. Since 1988, $1.7 million has been appropriated for such research.
$100,000 for Vidalia onion research in the state of House Agriculture Appropriations subcommittee member Jack Kingston (R-Ga.). According to testimony by USDA officials, this research will solely benefit the state of Georgia and the Vidalia onion industry. (This pork brings tears to the eyes of taxpayers.)
Being the Agriculture Subcommittee Chairman sure has its advantages:
$6,700,000 added by the House for the Jornada Range research station in the district of House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Joe Skeen (R-N.M.).
$5,886,000 added by the Senate for projects in the state of Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Thad Cochran (R-Miss.): $1,100,000 for the National Warmwater Aquaculture Center in Stoneville; $750,000 for natural products research; $750,000 for soybean and corn research; $592,000 for aquaculture research; $583,000 for Mississippi Valley State University; $500,000 for manure handling and disposal research; $308,000 for alternative marine and fresh water species research; $305,000 for seafood and aquaculture harvesting, processing, and marketing research; $250,000 for small fruits research; $250,000 for cotton ginning research; $250,000 for mycoplasma research; $148,000 for delta rural revitalization research; and $100,000 for an extension specialist.
The following projects were added without a budget request from the Administration:
$6,150,000 added by the House for the Western Human Nutrition Center in the district of House Agriculture Appropriations subcommittee member Vic Fazio (D-Calif.).
$3,696,000 added by the Senate for projects in the state of Senate Agriculture Subcommittee Ranking Member Dale Bumpers (D-Ark.): $1,400,000 for rice research; $1,250,000 for the Institute for Food Science and Engineering; $750,000 for a fish farming experiment laboratory; $197,000 for beef producers’ improvement; and $99,000 for an extension specialist. (This is truly a Bumpers’ crop of pork.)
$3,354,000 for shrimp aquaculture (Ariz., Hawaii, Mass., Miss., & S.C.). (Ariz., Hawaii, Mass., Miss., & S.C.). (Unless the USDA is now in the catering business and is making fried shrimp, what is this research doing in Arizona?)
$3,250,000 added by the Senate and in conference for projects in the state of Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.): $2,000,000 for the National Center for Cool and Cold Water Aquaculture ($15.9 million has been appropriated for this project even though construction has not begun); $750,000 aquaculture project and marketing development; $250,000 for the Appalachian fruit research station; and $250,000 for agriculture waste utilization.
$750,000 added by the Senate for grasshopper research in the state of Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska).
The following CSREES special research grants were added in conference:
$250,000 for infectious disease research in the state of Senate appropriator Ben “Nighthorse” Campbell (R-Colo.) and House appropriator David Skaggs (D-Colo.).
$150,000 for Brucellosis vacinos research in the state of Senate appropriator Conrad Burns (R-Mont.).
$150,000 for Chesapeake Bay agreocology in the state of Senate appropriator Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) and House appropriator Steny Hoyer (D-Md.).
II. Commerce, Science, and Justice
The Department of Commerce itself is a hodgepodge of corporate welfare and waste. The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) misguided assault on the high-tech industry is a good indication of its problems. Combine the two, add a dash of the State Department, and you have a unique blend of waste and mismanagement. Fortunately for taxpayers, Commerce/Justice/State pork was cut by more than half from last year, from $470 million to $223 million.
Here are some of the items that Congress slipped in:
$13,950,000 added by the Senate in the state of Senate Commerce Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Ernest F. Hollings (D-S.C.): $10,900,000 for the Charleston Border Patrol Academy; $3,000,000 for the I-85 police technology initiative in Anderson, Greenville, and Spartanburg counties; and $50,000 to increase staffing at a DOJ office in Columbia.
$12,500,000 added by the Senate for the East/West Center in Hawaii, which works to promote better relations and understanding between the United States and the nations of Asia and the Pacific through cooperative research, study, and training programs. Although there was a budget and Senate request for this project, the House refused to give it any funds. The House Committee pointed out that the center can solicit private contributions or compete for federal grants to support its activities, so it does not need a direct federal subsidy.
$8.660,000 added by the Senate in the state of Senate Commerce Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Judd Gregg (R-N.H.): $7,000,000 for the New Hampshire Department of Public Safety for the development of a digital radio system; $1,500,000 for the Safety Department’s Operation Streetsweeper; and $160,000 for stream quality monitoring.
$8,250,000 added by the House for the payment to the Asia Foundation account. Even though there was a budget request, the Senate Committee did not appropriate any money, stating “the Asia Foundation is a nongovernmental grantmaking organization that Congress has repeatedly urged to aggressively pursue private funds to support its activities. The Committee believes that the time has come for the Asia Foundation to graduate from public support.”
$6,925,000 added by the Senate in the state of Senate appropriator Robert Bennett (RUtah): $5,000,000 for the Utah Communications Agency Network; $1,000,000 for the Northern Utah Methamphetamine Initiative; and $925,000 for the Utah State Olympic Safety Command to develop a public safety master plan for the 2002 Winter Olympics. $4,625,000 added by the Senate in the state of Senate appropriator Pete Domenici (RN. M.) for the Artesia law enforcement training center.
$4,100,000 added by the Senate and in conference in the state of Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska): $2,400,000 for Anchorage Mobile Data Terminals; $650,000 to develop local juvenile justice programs in rural Alaska; $650,000 for the Alaskan Village Public Safety Program; and $400,000 for the Fairbanks Police Department.
$2,000,000 for the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology for the National Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center in the district of House appropriator Joe Skeen (R-N.M.). (To be politically correct, lazy materials should also have received funding in FY 1999.)
$1,750,000 added by the Senate for the North/South Center in Florida, $1,000,000 less than the budget request. The House did not recommend any funding for the Center. The mission of the North/South Center is to promote good relations among the United States, Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean. The Center started receiving a direct subsidy from the federal government in 1991, but prior to that time it operated on private funding and competed for and received project-specific grants. Thus, the House Committee reasoned, the Center could return to private funding as it did before 1991.
$1,250,000 added by the Senate for programs of the Oceanic Institute (OI) in Hawaii, the state of Senate appropriator Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), including $750,000 for Hawaiian fisheries development and $500,000 for the Hawaii Stock Management Plan. A 1995 audit by USDA found that OI “did not comply with Federal regulations or with the terms of the grant agreements. OI used grant funds for purposes that were not specified in its grant budgets and that were not approved by ARS [Agricultural Research Service] or CSREES [Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service]. It also made unallowable procurements with related parties and did not always perform required cost analyses, document the bases for contractor selection, or justify the lack of competition when procuring goods and services.”
$1,000,000 added by the Senate in the state of Senate Commerce Appropriations subcommittee member Ben “Nighthorse” Campbell (R-Colo.) for the Rocky Mountain Methamphetamine Initiative. (Sen. Campbell must be Rocky Mountain High if he thinks that taxpayers will put up with this type of pilfering.)
$800,000 added in conference in the state of Senate Commerce Appropriations subcommittee member Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) to hire additional assistant U.S. attorneys and investigators in Camden County.
$750,000 added by Senate appropriator Lauch Faircloth (R-N.C.) for the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum, a shipwreck museum planned for Hatteras Island on the Outer Banks. The funds will be channeled through the nonprofit Outer Banks Community Foundation and are contingent on a match from private sources. The $7.3 million project has been stalled for more than a decade while organizers struggled to keep up with escalating size and cost projections. The museum was originally intended to be a place to display artifacts from the shipwreck of the famous U.S.S. Monitor, but the idea has now expanded to include artifacts from 1,000 ships that were wrecked off the coast of the Outer Banks.
$500,000 added in conference in the district of House appropriator David Price (D-N.C.) for research at North Carolina State University on the impact of pfiesteria.
III. Defense
Even the staunchest supporters of increased defense spending understand that more money doesn’t always mean a better defense. Unless Congress tames its appetite for wasteful and unnecessary defense projects, American service men and women will continue to be underserved and our defenses will be vulnerable. Defense appropriations should never be about who can raid the Pentagon to get the most for his or her state or district, it should be about the most efficient way to defend America’s borders and democracy throughout the world. There’s some good news for 1999 – total defense pork was $6.1 billion, 28 percent less than last year’s total of $8.5 billion.
$126,500,000 added by the Senate for projects in the state of Senate Defense Appropriations subcommittee member Richard Shelby (R-Ala.): $74,000,000 for a space-based laser (SBL), an addition to the budget Sen. Shelby bragged about in a September 1998 press release: “The Huntsville community is critical to the development of this program, and I will ensure that this increased funding is applied to Fiscal Year 1999 to Huntsville’s work on SBL-related technologies.” In various news reports, the biggest debate wasn’t the usefulness of the project, but which representative or senator was going to land this prize piece of pork. Sen. Shelby also engineered $52,500,000 for the demonstration/validation of the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) program. In the same press release, Sen. Shelby admitted problems with THAAD – problems that will significantly delay the scheduled early deployment date and add considerably to the total cost – yet he was still proud to support funding.
$112,400,000 added by the House for two KC-130J transport planes at the request of then House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.). As an expensive going away present, the planes will be built in his congressional district.
$59,000,000 added by the Senate for projects in the state of porkbarrel baron Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii): $20,000,000 for a Pacific Range missile facility; $18,000,000 for Akamai; $7,000,000 for the Center of Excellence for Researching Ocean Sciences; $5,000,000 for Pacific Island healthcare; $4,000,000 for agriculturally based bioremediation; and $1,000,000 for the eradication of Brown Tree Snakes. (Who would think that a state this small could produce such big fiscal problems?)
$12,500,000 added by the Senate for the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) in the state of Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska). Initially designed to capture energy from the aurora borealis (northern lights), HAARP is now being configured to heat up the ionosphere to improve military communications. HAARP is also heating up the ire of many taxpayers. In one of the more exciting applications of new technology, web surfers can view the HAARPcam (with periodic updates) 24 hours a day to watch their hard-earned tax dollars at work. It would take an awful lot of revenue from HAARP.com to pay for this waste of tax dollars. Since 1995, CAGW has identified $43 million appropriated for this project. (This HAARP is not music to anyone’s ears.)
$5,000,000 added for the National Center for Industrial Competitiveness by House Defense Appropriations subcommittee member David Hobson (R-Ohio). Rep. Hobson pushed for this funding even though an Air Force memo concluded that the materials research at the Center had little military value.
$2,200,000 added by the Senate for the Southern Observatory for Astronomical Research (SOAR). The funds will support the construction of a state-of-the-art telescope high atop a mountain in South America to peer millions of years back in time. The websites associated with SOAR are wonderful public relations tools that say nothing about the supposed military applications of this waste of money. Since 1997, CAGW has identified $8 million appropriated for this project. (This is a true eye-SOAR in the defense appropriations.)
$1,000,000 added by the House for Lewis and Clark Exhibit support in the district of House Defense Appropriations subcommittee member Norm Dicks (D-Wash.). When asked about the defense implications of an exhibit honoring 19th-century frontiersmen Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, a Dicks spokesman explained that the explorers were commissioned officers.
$300,000 added in conference for the archaeological investigation of the H.L. Hunley. This civil war submarine sank on February 17, 1864 after successfully attacking the U.S.S. Housatonic. (Continued funding of this project will surely sink any chances of a true budget surplus.)
IV. District of Columbia
The new mayor of the District of Columbia, Anthony Williams, has ushered in a new era of fiscal responsibility and solvency. Unfortunately, Congress didn’t follow suit with the District of Columbia Appropriations Bill. Even though D.C. appropriations is usually pork-free, five projects were snuck in for FY 1999, including the following:
$7,000,000 added by the House for an environmental study at the soon-to-be closed Lorton Correctional Complex in Virginia, which is the federal government’s facility for D.C. inmates. The jail is in or adjacent to the districts of House D.C. Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Jim Moran (D-Va.), House Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Frank Wolf (R-Va.) and House Government Reform D.C. Subcommittee Chairman Tom Davis (R-Va.), all of whom pushed for the project.
$300,000 added by the Senate for the Federal City Council to conduct a needs and design study for a National Museum of American Music honoring Frank Sinatra. (New Pork, New Pork.)
V. Energy and Water
Turning money into water is a trick usually reserved for the craftiest magicians. But energy and water appropriators have learned to take tax dollars and turn them into wasteful and unnecessary water projects. Year after year, hundreds of unrequested Army Corps of Engineers projects are handed out by appropriators. The new trick in the FY 1999 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill is to take the initial Administration requests and inflated them by millions of dollars. This sleight of hand allows appropriators to claim a budget request, thereby hoping to silence their harshest critics. Well, it doesn’t work. If the appropriators had looked at CAGW’s fifth pork-barrel criteria, “greatly exceeds the President’s budget request or the previous year’s funding,” they would realize that they were still going to get caught. Total energy and water pork for FY 1999 was $950 million, or more than double FY 1998’s total of $460 million.
$54,891,000 added by the House and in conference in the district of then House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Joseph McDade (R-Pa.): $40,441,000 over the budget request ($100,000) for Lackawanna River, Scranton; $6,750,000 over the budget request ($50,000) for Lackawanna River, Olyphant; $3,000,000 for Pike County; $2,700,000 for Lycoming County Water and Sewer Authority; and $2,000,000 for Central Bradford Progress Authority, Bradford County. (Most people receive a gold watch, not an overflowing pot of gold, when they retire.)
$16,348,000 added by the Senate for projects in the state of Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska): $11,748,000 for construction at Cook Inlet ($6,000,000), St. Paul Harbor ($5,000,000), and Chignik Harbor ($748,000); $1,100,000 for operation and maintenance of Wrangell Narrows ($600,000) and St. Paul Harbor ($500,000); $1,000,000 for the Power Creek hydroelectric project in Cordova; $1,000,000 for a diesel backup system at Sitka; $1,000,000 for the Pyramid Creek hydroelectric project; $200,000 for Brevig Mission; $100,000 for Naknek River watershed; $100,000 for Valdez Harbor expansion; and $100,000 for Anchorage Harbor deepening.
$6,375,000 added by the Senate for projects in the state for Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Harry Reid (D-Nev.): $2,300,000 for Las Vegas shallow aquifer desalination; $2,225,000 for the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Power and Refueling Station; $500,000 for the University of Nevada Las Vegas to manage data from scientific studies of Yucca Mountain; $500,000 for Lake Tahoe regional wetlands development; $250,000 for the Walker River Basin; $250,000 for Sparks water reclamation and reuse; $250,000 to evaluate the best method of extracting methane gas from the Sunrise Mountain Landfill; and $100,000 for a Carson River Basin groundwater study.
$3,500,000 added in conference in the state of Senate Energy and Water Appropriations subcommittee member Ernest F. Hollings (D-S.C.) to support the utilization of Positron Emission Tomography at the University of South Carolina Medical Center.
$2,350,000 added by the Senate for projects in the state of Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Pete Domenici (R-N.M.): $850,000 for the operation and maintenance of the Upper Rio Grande water operations model; $450,000 for the Rio Grande Floodway; $350,000 for Galisteo Dam safety; $350,000 for the Acequias irrigation system rehabilitation project; $200,000 to confirm the quantity and quality of water available at the San Juan River Gallup, Mount Taylor Mine; and $150,000 for the San Juan Gallup-Navajo water supply study.
$2,210,000 added by the Senate for projects in the state of Senate Energy and Water Appropriations subcommittee member Conrad Burns (R-Mont.): $1,500,000 for the Fort Peck rural water system; $360,000 for an MR&I water system at Fort Peck reservation; and $350,000 for the Montana Trade Port Authority in Billings for a study on construction of a solid waste hydrogen fuel cell manufacturing facility.
$1,500,000 for the Million Solar Roofs Initiative. This “budget request” was not originally a Department of Energy (DOE) project; rather it started out as an announcement by President Clinton during an address to the United Nations. The House Committee scoffed at the idea, as members believed the cost of the program would not be worth it. They were right. A DOE press release in 1998 announced an award of $5,000,000 to select business ventures to install 1,000 solar systems. Assuming DOE’s estimates are correct, at this rate, each roof system will cost $32,000 on average, $5,000 of which will be paid by taxpayers. The Committee was sufficiently concerned about the taking of taxpayer funds for this venture that it warned the Administration not to show off the program. The Committee urged DOE to “use lowercase letters when touting the goal of outfitting one million solar roofs.” Despite the recommendation by the House, the program was awarded $1.5 million in conference, according to a Capitol Hill source, simply to see how the money would be spent.
$1,470,000 added by the Senate and in conference for projects in the state of Senate appropriator Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii): $1,000,000 to begin planning for the marine mammal research and education center at the National Energy Laboratory; $170,000 for Maalaea Harbor, Maui; $100,000 to study whether there is a federal interest in modifying the Kahului Deep Draft Harbor to increase cargo transportation efficiency and to prepare a plan of study; $100,000 for a reconnaissance study of the efficiency of water systems serving sugarcane plantations and surrounding communities; and $100,000 for Hawaii water management.
$1,300,000 added in conference in the district of House appropriator David Skaggs (DColo.) for the National Wind Technology Center.
$1,000,000 added by the Senate in the state of Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) for a project to which he must be quite attached – the construction of the Robert C. Byrd Locks and Dam in West Virginia and Ohio.
$1,000,000 added by House and Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Vic Fazio (D-Calif.) for the Gridley rice straw project (which was designed to convert rice into ethanol). Conferees were reluctant to fund this project, in part because it had $3.2 million in unobligated funds from previous years and had experience serious contract management problems since it began in 1995. CAGW sources indicated the conferees appropriated money anyway because Rep. Fazio was not running for another term and could not ask for future funding.
$1,000,000 added in conference in the district of House Energy and Water Appropriations subcommittee member Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) for the Cancer Institute of New Jersey’s Dean and Betty Gallo Prostate Cancer Research Institute at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick.
$585,000 added in conference in the district of House Energy and Water Appropriations subcommittee member Sonny Callahan (R-Ala.) for channel extension work at Mobile Harbor.
$300,000 added by the Senate in the state of Senate appropriator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) for the Vermont methane energy production proposal. This project is designed to demonstrate the physical and economic feasibility of capturing and utilizing methane from agricultural waste products for heat and power production on farms. (Don’t play with matches near all that gas.)
VI. Foreign Operations
The Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill does not usually contain as much pork as other appropriations bills. But appropriators still found a way to sneak in some of their favorites. The good news is that total Foreign Operations pork is down an amazing 87 percent, from $202 million in FY 1998 to $27.3 million in FY 1999. Unfortunately, the biggest slice of pork accounts for 72 percent of the total and remains in the bill perennially.
$19,600,000 for the International Fund for Ireland (IFI) in support of the Anglo-Irish Accord. Started as a going-away gift for former House Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill, the IFI has tried to aid the peace process by funding golf videos, pony trekking centers, and sweater exports. This U.S. contribution to the fund is to be spent on “those projects that hold the greatest potential for job creation and equal opportunity for the Irish people.” The Congressional Budget Office singled this program out on its hit list of unauthorized projects.
$1,500,000 added by the Senate for agricultural programs in Laos. In its report, the Committee’s rationale for the money was stated as follows: “[w]e are aware that silk production in Laos offers a profitable alternative to local farmers who would otherwise grow opium for export, and that the U.S. Embassy in Laos is seeking to support a microcredit program to promote silk production.” (What a Laosy was to encourage agriculture production.)
$1,500,000 for the Urban and Environmental Credit Program Account. Although the Administration requested this appropriation, the House Committee recommended termination of this program in order to target scarce development resources on poorer nations. The Committee also noted that most countries benefiting from this program have been those that have moved out of or would soon graduate from AID development assistance.
$1,200,000 added by the Senate for the Mitch McConnell Conservation Fund, in honor of the Republican senator from Kentucky. The fund promotes conservation of biodiversity and sustainable development in the province of the Galapagos Islands, because “Ecuador does not have the resources to assure the laws are implemented.” Of the $1.2 million, $500,000 is allocated for the Charles Darwin Research Station; $200,000 is earmarked for activities conducted by the Galapagos National Park Service; and $500,000 is to be contributed to an endowment for the Charles Darwin Research Station and Foundation. (One wonders if these earmarks would survive in a challenge of the fiscally fittest.)
$500,000 added by the Senate for the United States Telecommunications Training Institute, a business/government program that trains telecommunications leaders in developing countries. Sponsorship by multinational telecommunications firms raises questions about the need for any government funding of this nonprofit organization.
VII. Interior
The mission of the Department of the Interior is to “protect and provide access to our Nation’s natural and cultural heritage and honor our trust responsibilities to tribes.” No one, from the most ardent outdoorsman to the occasional weekend visitor, wants to see our national parks fall into disrepair. Congressional appropriators unfortunately use the parks as their personal recreation areas for pork-barrel projects. In FY 1999, 60 percent (45 of 75) of the construction projects funded through the National Park Service (NPS) were not requested by the Administration. In June 1998, the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) issued a scathing report regarding NPS’s management of its construction program. NAPA’s 11 findings and recommendations provided a comprehensive road map for making NPS construction more cost-effective. The congressional response to NAPA (and other criticism of the National “Pork” Service): total Interior pork in FY 1999 is $414 million, 17 percent more than last year’s total of $354 million.
$20,852,000 added by the Senate for projects in the state of Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska): $8,600,000 for a visitors center at Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Preserve (NP&P); $4,400,000 for land acquisition and state assistance at Katmai NP&P; $3,000,000 for visitor facilities at the Katmai NP&P; $1,120,000 to rehabilitate buildings at the Sitka National Historical Site; $1,022,000 for the Coldfoot multiagency visitor facility; $1,000,000 for Ketchikan area trails; $860,000 for design and construction of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge; $750,000 for the Alaska Native Cultural Center; and $100,000 for the Aleutian World War II National Historic Area.
$10,750,000 added by the Senate and in conference in the state of Senate Interior Appropriations subcommittee member Conrad Burns (R-Mont.): $6,500,000 for land acquisition at the Royal Teton National Forest; $2,000,000 for the Pompeys Pillar visitor facilitiy; $1,000,000 for restoration at Virginia City; $750,000 for Beaverhead River; and $500,000 for the Nez Perce National Historic Park.
$10,526,000 added by the Senate for projects in the state of Senate Interior Appropriations subcommittee member Thad Cochran (R-Miss.): $5,000,000 for the University of Mississippi; $2,000,000 for the Franklin County Dam; $1,200,000 to restore buildings at Vicksburg National Military Park; $876,000 to restore houses at Natchez National Historic Park; $600,000 for the Mississippi Marine Mineral Resource Center; $500,000 for Vicksburg National Military Park; and $350,000 for the Ft. Rosalie property at the Natchez National Historic Park.
$6,900,000 added by the Senate for projects in the state of Senate Interior Appropriations subcommittee member Pete Domenici (R-N.M.): $3,000,000 for Petrogylph National Monument; $3,000,000 for an arts center in the Hispanic Cultural Center; $600,000 for Aztec ruins; and $300,000 for Bandalier National Monument.
$5,475,000 added by the Senate for projects in the state of Senate Interior Appropriations; subcommittee member Ben “Nighthorse” Campbell (R-Colo.): $4,200,000 for land acquisition at White River National Forest; $800,000 for land acquisition at Gunnison Basin; $275,000 for reconstruction and construction at Routt National Forest; and $200,000 for land acquisition and state assistance at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Monument.
$4,725,000 added by the Senate for projects in the state of Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.): $1,200,000 for Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge; $1,200,000 for Harper’s Ferry National Park; $750,000 for New River Gorge National Reserve; $525,000 for construction at New River Gorge; $500,000 for land acquisition and state assistance at Gauley River National Recreation Area; and $150,000 for rehabilitation at White Sulphur Springs. (Take our tax dollars home, country roads, to the place where he thinks they belong, West Virginia…)
$4,700,000 added by the House for projects in the district of House Interior Appropriations subcommittee member Joseph McDade (R-Pa.): $4,250,000 for the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area ($3,500,000 for trails and $750,000 for the Zimmerman House) and $450,000 for Lackawanna heritage.
$3,400,000 added in conference for a visitors center at the Fort Necessity National Battlefield in the district of House appropriator John Murtha (D-Pa.). Since 1993, CAGW has identified $8.5 million in pork appropriated for Fort Necessity. (According to the National Park Service, it is not a necessity to fund this visitors center.)
$2,550,000 added by the Senate for projects in the state of Senate Interior Appropriations subcommittee member Robert Bennett (R-Utah): $1,300,000 for reconstruction and construction through the National Forest System for the 2002 Winter Olympics; $1,000,000 for Bureau of Land Management land acquisition at the Washington County Habitat Conservation Plan; and $250,000 for land acquisition of the Bonneville shoreline trail.
$1,000,000 added in conference for rehabilitation of a U-505 submarine at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, Illinois. Pork connoisseurs will remember this earmark as part of the VA/HUD appropriations free-for-all in FY 1998. $925,000 added by the House for the Morristown National Historic Park in the district of House appropriator Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.).
$900,000 added by the House for projects in the district of House appropriator Steny Hoyer (D-Md.): $600,000 for the Sotterly Plantation and $300,000 for the Accokeek Foundation.
$855,000 added by the House and in conference for projects in Pisgah National Forest in the district of House Interior Appropriations subcommittee member Charles Taylor (RN. C.): $505,000 for reconstruction and construction and $350,000 for land acquisition. $300,000 added in conference for the National First Ladies Library in the district of House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Ralph Regula (R-Ohio).
VIII. Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education
The Labor/HHS/Education Appropriations Bill improved a bit since last year. Total Labor/HHS/Education pork for FY 1999 is $573 million, down $117 million or 17 percent from FY 1998’s $690 million. Yet some of the most ridiculous pork remains to be found in this year’s bill, including institutions named after senators and after-school programs at locations that just happen to be in appropriators’ districts or states. Technopork was the choice dish, especially in the Departments of Education and Labor. In particular, the Department of Education was unable to provide the House Committee with a statement of the amounts the department spends on technology. The Committee noted that “it is difficult to understand how such large sums can be requested and spent without any clear understanding as to the amounts of federal funding involved and any clear policy as to the role of federal funding vis-à-vis ongoing local funding in increasing the use of technology in the classroom.”
The president’s FY 1999 budget request exacerbated this problem by requesting 13 new programs at funding levels of just under $2,000,000. Most, if not all, of these initiatives are currently being carried out under existing authorities. More money is being wasted in this area by Vice President Al Gore’s “phone tax” to connect schools to the Internet, which may add $10 per month to everyone’s phone bill once fully implemented according to the Administration’s plans. Technology is vital to the nation’s future, but at a time when schools are short of books, teachers, and classroom facilities, basics should take precedent. Let’s hope that Mr. Gore’s presidential campaign slogan will not be “It’s the technology, stupid.”
Here are some examples of Labor/HHS/Education pork:
$75,000,000 added in conference for the Teacher Training in Technology Program. The purpose of this initiative is to help ensure that all new teachers can teach effectively with technology. In refusing to fund this program, the House Committee cited a 1995 GAO report indicating that there were already 86 teacher training programs that trained more than a million teachers. The Committee was unwilling to recommend increased funding or add confusion to the existing system of fragmented, overlapping and duplicative teacher training programs.
$11,000,000 added by the Senate for Ready to Learn Television, a program designed to develop and distribute educational videos for preschool and elementary school children and their parents. The House Committee stated that this activity can be carried out by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting with the federal payments it receives. In addition, the privately owned and operated Channel One already provides educational programming and videos to 12,000 schools and is viewed by 8 million school children daily – at no cost to taxpayers.
$7,675,000 added by the Senate for projects in the state of Senate Labor/HHS Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) including: $1,750,000 for the Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts in Harrisburg to be used for the teaching of science through the arts; $1,250,000 for the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia for a demonstration project to maintain and enhance the oldest scientific journal in the United States; and $500,000 for Mansfield University for a state-of-the-art demonstration of information technology systems. (Something very old, something new, wasting their borrowed money makes taxpayers blue.)
$6,150,000 added by the Seneate in the state of Senate Labor/HHS Appropriations subcommittee member Lauch Faircloth (R-N.C.) for the 1999 Special Olympics World Summer Games.
$5,900,000 added by the Senate and in conference in the state of Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska): $3,000,000 for the planning and preparation of the 2001 Special Olympics World Winter Games; $1,000,000 for the Alaska Federation of Natives Foundation, to develop and train skilled Alaska natives for employment in the Alaskan petroleum industry; $850,000 for the Department of Education to develop an internet-based curriculum and to provide training to teacher in Alaskan villages; $800,000 for the University of Alaska, Fairbanks to be used for a demonstration project to enhance the distance delivery of natural resources management courses, including soils and forestry, to students in rural areas; and $250,000 for KNBA radio in Anchorage for training and employment services.
$5,000,000 added by the Senate and in conference in the state of Senate Labor/HHS Appropriations subcommittee member Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii): $2,500,000 for training and educational opportunities for adults; $2,000,000 for the Department of Education’s “Magnet E-School” technology training and curriculum initiative; and $500,000 for high-tech training on the island of Maui.
$5,000,000 added by the Senate for a Telecommunications Demonstration Project for Mathematics. The budget justification submitted by the Department of Education indicated that “the program’s single objective is to promote excellent teaching in mathematics through sustained professional development and teacher networks.” Yet the program’s measures of success, as outlined by the Department, would be “the numbers of teachers trained, the estimated number of students taught by trained teachers, and the fact that teachers thought the program better than other professional development programs.” The House Committee was unwilling to recommend funding for a program with no specific, measurable output standards.
$3,350,000 added in conference for projects in the district of House Labor/HHS Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member David Obey (D-Wisc.): $2,150,000 for technology-enhanced learning at the College of Natural Resources at the University of Wisconsin (Stevens Point); $500,000 for the Chippewa Falls Area Unified School System after-school program; $400,000 for the Wausau School System after-school program; and $300,000 for the dislocated/incumbent worker project at the University of Wisconsin- Superior at its Transportation/Logistics Center.
$2,000,000 added by the Senate in the state of Senate Labor/HHS Appropriations subcommittee member Christopher “Kit” S. Bond (R-Mo.) for the Guadalupe Center in Kansas City for training, education, and acquisition of educational materials for its culinary and cultural arts expansion. Ironically, the Senate Committee claims this money is to help the center become self-sufficient.
$1,800,000 added by the Senate in the state of Senate Labor/HHS Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Tom Harkin (R-Iowa): $1,000,000 for the Krell Institute in Ames, run for the Department of Energy by Iowa State University, to help meet the need for a technologically capable workforce; $500,000 for a national model of adaptive technologies at the National Institute of Technology for Inclusive Education at the University of Northern Iowa; and $300,000 for completing transcription, indexing, cataloging, and microfilming of 1,200 oral history interviews relating to Iowa labor and unions. The documents are now being held at the State Historical Society. (More labor pains for taxpayers.)
$1,500,000 added in conference for the Touro Law Center in Central Islip, New York, for the use of technology to bridge the gap between legal education and the actual practice of law. (You do the math. There are 750 students at this law center. The government could buy $200 television sets for each one of them and require them to watch “Court TV,” “Law and Order,” and “Ally McBeal.” Less cost, more fun, and $1,350,000 left over to refund the taxpayers.)
$750,000 recommended by the Senate for the Digital Geospatial and Numerical Data Library at the University of Idaho in the state of Labor/HHS Appropriations subcommittee member Larry Craig (R-Idaho). The rationale behind this project was the Senate Committee’s belief that there is a crucial need in rural communities and State agencies for geospatial digital and numerical data that can only be met through the establishment of a data library. (Sounds like the first of hundreds of such libraries, whatever they are.)
$50,000 added in conference in the district of House Labor/HHS Appropriations subcommittee member Anne Northuup (R-Ky.), equally divided between after-school programs at the Louisville Central Community Centers Youth Education Program and Canaan’s Community Development Corporation in Louisville for the Village Learning Center.
No institution honors its own the way the Senate does:
$6,000,000 added in conference for the Robert J. Dole Institute for Public Service and Public Policy, named for the former Senate majority leader, on the University of Kansas campus in Lawrence.
$1,000,000 added in conference for the Oregon Institute of Public Service and Constitutional Studies at the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government, named for the former chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, at Portland State University. $1,000,000 added in conference for the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, named after the former senator from Illinois, at Southern Illinois University. (Here’s to you, Mister Si-eye-mon, a nation gives its money to honor you, woo-woo-woo.)
IX. Legislative Branch
Mindful appropriators ensured that the Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill was porkfree in FY 1999. Even though this appropriation is not a large one, it sets an example for all appropriators to follow.X. Military Construction
Although there was only one new project added by the conferees in the FY 1999 Military Construction Appropriations Bill, members of the House and Senate still managed to slip in 138 projects not requested by the Administration. This year’s bill contained seven physical fitness centers, four child development centers, five control towers at Air Force bases that already have such towers, and an $8.3 million fence, among other not-socritical priorities for the Pentagon. These items helped increase total FY 1999 pork in this year’s bill to $1 billion, an increase of 12 percent over FY 1998’s total of $921 million. Here are some of the items Congress believed were essential to our national defense:
$29,590,000 added by the Senate for projects in the state of Senate Military Construction Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Conrad Burns (R-Mont.): $21,690,000 to include the purchase and installation of pre-wired workstations and furnishings for the Armed Forces Reserve Center in Helena and $7,900,000 to replace a dormitory at Malmstrom Air Force Base.
$18,900,000 added by the House and Senate in the state of Senate Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee member Lauch Faircloth (R-N.C.) and in the district of House Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee member W.G. “Bill” Hefner:
$10,600,000 for a Fort Bragg barracks upgrade and $8,300,000 for a fence at Fort Bragg.
$17,300,000 added by the Senate for two projects in the state of Senate appropriator Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.): $8,800,000 to add to the physical fitness center at the Grand Forks Air Force Base and $8,500,000 for taxiway repair at Minot Air Force Base.
$15,000,000 for the only project added in conference, which was in the state of Senate Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee member Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii): a Bachelor Enlisted Headquarters (Phase I) at the Navy Kaneohe Bay Marine Corps Air Station.
$12,190,000 added by the House for projects at Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base in the district of House Military Construction Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Ron Packard (R-Calif.): $7,180,000 for a helicopter outlying landing field and $5,010,000 for a fitness center.
$10,350,000 added by the House for two projects at the McConnell Air Force Base in the district of House Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee member Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.): $5,900,000 for additions and alterations to the existing avionics shop for the Kansas Air National Guard Unit and $4,450,000 for a new water storage, treatment, and pumping facility.
$7,800,000 added by the House for projects at Fort Irwin in the district of House appropriator Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.): $5,100,000 for a child development center and $2,700,000 for an education center.
$6,800,000 added in the Senate in the state of Senate appropriator Pete Domenici (RN. M.) to repair buildings used in the nuclear weapons program at Kirtland Air Force Base.
$4,800,000 added by the House in the district of House appropriator C.W. “Bill” Young (R-Fla.) for a dining facility at MacDill Air Force Base.
$4,300,000 added by the Senate in the state of Senate appropriator Barbara Mikulski (DMd.) to tear down 19 naval radio towers. The towers, scheduled to be demolished starting in 2000, are to be removed to preserve the “natural setting” of the rabbits and deer living in the 231-acre area known as Greenbury Point. The Naval Academy still needs to get permission to tear down some of the towers, which have been in place for more than 80 years, because they have been designated as historical sites. Nonetheless, money has already been appropriated. (This is putting the cart before the horse.)
$1,600,000 added by the House in the district of House Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee member David Hobson (R-Ohio) for the Air Force Reserve’s C-141 glass cockpit flight simulator at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
$1,500,000 added by the Senate in the state of Senate Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee member Larry Craig (R-Idaho) for B1-B Munitions Storage Igloos at Mountain Home Air Force Base.
XI. Transportation
Transportation appropriators again gorged themselves on the hard-earned tax dollars of American taxpayers in FY 1999. The $217 billion six-year Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century gave appropriators ample opportunity to belly up to the trough.
Transportation pork in FY 1999 is up an incredible 80 percent over FY 1998, from $710 million to $1.2 billion. Department of Transportation officials have told CAGW that they continue to be frustrated by Congress’ mad dash to earmark these funds. The appropriators claim it is their job to go behind closed doors and horse trade. In FY 1999, 68 percent of all state-specific pork was confiscated by 5.2 percent of the members of Congress – the 28 senators and representatives on the Transportation Appropriations Subcommittees. Those are some pretty fancy horses they’re trading, but it’s a closed auction with the taxpayers picking up the tab.
$27,100,000 added by the Senate and in conference for projects in the state of Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska): $10,000,000 for Alaska Railroad Rehabilitation; $4,300,000 for an Anchorage Ship Creek intermodal facility.
$3,500,000 for roadway improvements on the Kenai Peninsula; $2,000,000 for a volcano monitor to warn airplanes of ash (the Federal Aviation Administration doesn’t even know what it is); $2,000,000 for a Fairbanks intermodal rail/bus transfer facility; $1,500,000 for State of Alaska intelligent transportation systems; $1,000,000 for Lake Camp Road, Valley Road, and Beaver Pond Terrace Road; $900,000 for planning and assistance for the 2001 Special Olympics World Winter Games; $700,000 for a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers study of rural access; $700,000 for a Whittier intermodal facility and pedestrian overpass; and $500,000 for North Slope Borough buses.
$21,300,000 added by the Senate for projects in the state of Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.): $5,000,000 for Huntsville intermodal space centers; $5,000,000 for a Montgomery Union Station intermodal center; $3,200,000 for Coast Guard facilities at Dauphin Island; $2,500,000 for a Mobile intelligent transportation system; $2,000,000 for a Birmingham intermodal facility; $1,250,000 for a Montgomery intelligent transportation system; $1,000,000 for a Birmingham alternatives analysis study and preliminary engineering; $800,000 for University of North Alabama pedestrian walkways; $500,000 for Dothan Wiregrass Transportation Authority demand response shuttle vehicles and transit facility; and $50,000 for Jasper buses.
$21,000,000 added by the Senate for projects in the state of Senate Transportation Appropriations subcommittee member Arlen Specter (R-Pa.): $14,000,000 for Commonwealth of Pennsylvania intelligent transportation systems; $5,000,000 for a high speed intercity magnetic levitation project between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh; $1,000,000 for a Delaware River intelligent transportation system; and $1,000,000 for Pittsburgh North Shore central business district transit options.
$12,200,000 added by the Senate for projects in the state of Senate Transportation Appropriations subcommittee member Christopher “Kit” S. Bond (R-Mo.): $4,500,000 for statewide buses and bus facilities; $2,500,000 for OATS Transit; $2,500,000 for Kansas City Union Station redevelopment; $750,000 for St. Louis intelligent transportation systems; $500,000 for Kansas City intelligent transportation systems; $500,000 for a Kansas City commuter rail project; $500,000 for a St. Louis to Jefferson City to Kansas City commuter rail project; and $450,000 for transit planning for the city of Branson.
$6,000,000 added by the Senate for projects in the state of Senate Transportation Appropriations subcommittee member Pete Domenici (R-N.M.): $5,000,000 for the Albuquerque light rail project and $1,000,000 for the state of New Mexico intelligent transportation systems.
$4,850,000 added by the Senate for a fuel cell bus program and bus facilities program at Georgetown University in the District of Columbia.
$4,000,000 added by the House for Hammond, Louisiana, intelligent transportation systems in the district of then House Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Livingston (R-La.).
$3,000,000 added by the House for Middlesboro, Kentucky, intelligent transportation systems in the district of House Transportation Appropriations subcommittee member Harold Rogers (R-Ky.).
$2,000,000 added by the House for projects in the district of House appropriator Henry Bonilla (R-Texas): $1,000,000 for Laredo intelligent transportation systems and $1,000,000 for Del Rio intelligent transportation systems.
$1,500,000 added by the House for projects in the district of House appropriator Norm Dicks (R-Wa.): $1,000,000 for Port Angeles center bus and bus-related facilities and $500,000 for Port Angeles intelligent transportation systems.
$1,000,000 added by the Senate for an Arkansas River project in Little Rock, in the state of Senate appropriator Dale Bumpers (D-Ark.).
$500,000 added by the House for Fitchburg intelligent transportation systems in the district of House Transportation Appropriations subcommittee member John Olver (DMass.). $500,000 added in conference for a water taxi in Savannah in the district of House appropriator Jack Kingston (R-Ga.).
$250,000 added by the Senate for an Elliot Bay (King County) water taxi in the state of Senate Transportation Appropriations subcommittee members Slade Gorton (R-Wa.) and Patty Murray (D-Wa.). (Sittin’ on the dock of the bay, watching our money float away…)
$200,000 added by the House for a Toledo Mud Hens transit center study in the district of House appropriator Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio). (Take me out to the ball game – at the taxpayer’s expense.)
The following appropriations are a good indication that Congress likes to play with our money:
$1,000,000 added by the Senate for 2002 Winter Olympics security and training assistance in the state of Senate Transportation Appropriations subcommittee member Robert Bennett (R-Utah). (A fitting way to appropriate money for such a scandalplagued event.)
$1,000,000 added by the Senate for 1999 Special Olympics World Summer Games planning and assistance in the state of Senate Transportation Appropriations subcommittee member Lauch Faircloth (R-N.C.).
XII. Treasury, Postal Service, and General Government
Like a sequel to a bad movie, courthouse construction is back. The FY 1999 Treasury/Postal Service/General Government Appropriations Bill contained more than $460 million in unrequested courthouse construction. An Office of Management and Budget official testified in March 1998 that “before we proceed with a courthouse building program that may exceed $5 billion, cost saving initiatives such as standard building designs, utilization standards, efficient use of office space, and continued use of existing facilities should be included in the ‘U.S. Courthouse Design Guide’ and agreed upon by all parties.” Congress did not listen. What a difference a year makes: total Treasury/Postal pork for FY 1999 exceeded $469 million – 27 times more than in FY 1998. WOW!
$152,626,000 added for the Brooklyn, New York, Courthouse. The U.S. Attorney’s office in New York has arrested 16 individuals suspected of a kickback and bribery scheme in the construction of the courthouse.
$86,010,000 added for the Jacksonville, Florida, Federal Courthouse. $83,959,000 added for the Denver, Colorado, Federal Courthouse. In a press statement, Senate Treasury/Postal Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Ben “Nighthorse” Campbell (R-Colo.) stated that “Colorado has every right to this money.” $15, 400,000 added for the San Diego, California, Federal Courthouse. Construction of this courthouse will require the demolition of an 84-year-old historic landmark in San Diego’s famous Gaslamp Quarter.
The next two entries show the thrill of victory (for appropriators) and the agony of defeat (for taxpayers):
$600,000 for the World Alpine Ski Championships in Colorado in the state of Senate Treasury/Postal Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Ben “Nighthorse” Campbell (RColo.) and House appropriator David Skaggs (D-Colo.). (Another snow job for the taxpayers.)
$475,000 for the Women’s World Cup of Soccer. (Appropriators should have given this one the boot.)
XIII. Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies
The FY 1999 VA/HUD/Independent Agencies Appropriations Bill was a major conduit of pork, containing 565 projects without budget requests. The total of $789 million was an increase of $106 million, or 13 percent, over 1998 VA/HUD pork, which totaled $683 million.
One reason for this increase was the earmarking of funds set aside for Community Development Block Grants (CDBG). The CDBG program was originally established to provide formula grants to aid low- and moderate-income households, eliminate urban blight, and meet emergency needs. But instead of going to the poor, several of these funds were earmarked for unrelated projects in some of the richest towns in America. They included an opera house, a symphony hall, a soccer activity center, and a botanical garden. Out of the 334 CDBG grants, 255 (an astonishing 76 percent) were added in conference. The remaining 79 were added by the Senate. This closed-door deal making benefited the privileged few at the expense of the many.
Congress also larded pork into several EPA accounts, especially wastewater grants. Rather than appropriating funds for pressing national environmental concerns, Congress allocated money for local projects such as a regional environmental finance center and poultry litter studies.
The chairmen of the Senate and House Subcommittees on VA/HUD Appropriations, Sen. Christopher “Kit” S. Bond (R-Mo.) and Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.), were also very adept at stuffing their own pockets with other people’s money in FY 1999. Sen. Bond sent 25 projects totaling $37,600,000 back to Missouri, and Rep. Lewis sent 15 projects totaling $18,350,000 back home to San Bernadino and Inyo counties.
Pork in Sen. Bond’s state of Missouri included:
$7,500,000 added by the Senate for the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery to provide 13,200 grave sites for full casket interments.
$3,000,000 added in conference for the Center of Excellence at the Truman Memorial VA Medical Center for studies on hypertension, lupus erythematosus, and surfactants. While these may be interesting, and potentially important research projects, they are not at the top of the list of concerns at the Department of Veteran Affairs.
$2,000,000 added by the Senate for the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute’s Missouri watershed initiative project to link economic and environmental data with ambient water quality.
$1,000,000 added by the Senate for the Animal Waste Management Consortium through the University of Missouri to supplement research, demonstration, and outreach projects associated with animal waste.
$350,000 added in conference to enhance the cultural awareness of the people of St. Louis: $150,000 to Better Family Life, Inc., which offers school-based programs and cultural programs; $100,000 for the St. Louis Black Repertory Company to provide; cultural arts activities for the St. Louis metropolitan area; and $100,000 to the Harambee Institute to provide encouragement to children and adults interested in the arts. $100,000 added in conference for improvements in accessibility and safety to the Black World History Wax Museum in St. Louis.
Pork projects in Rep. Lewis’s California district included:
$3,000,000 added by the House for Inyo county for water, wastewater, and system infrastructure development and improvement for the Lower Owens River Project. $2,000,000 added in conference for the city of Redlands: $1,000,000 for redevelopment near the historic Fox Theater; $500,000 for the Boys and Girls Club to develop a youth facility; and $500,000 for reconstruction of the Alabama Street Bridge.
$1,850,000 added in conference for San Bernardino county: $850,000 for the community college district; $500,000 for the Shack Attack program; $250,000 for a public park facility; and $250,000 for the Running Springs Downtown Revitalization Project. $1,000,000 added in conference for the city of Loma Linda for infrastructure improvements at Redlands Boulevard and California Street.
Other egregious examples of nonrequested projects included:
$20,800,000 for the Louis Stokes Cleveland Veteran Affairs Medical Center in the district of House VA/HUD Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Louis Stokes (D-Ohio). (A fine example of congressional narcissism.)
$18,825,000 added by the Senate and in conference for 15 projects in the state of Senate VA/HUD Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.), including: $1,500,000 for economic development and revitalization in the southern Silver Spring business district; $1,000,000 for Somerset County wastewater treatment improvements in support of biological nutrient removal; $500,000 for Montgomery County for the Easter Seals Break-Away Senior Day Care Center; and $225,000 for a cooperative research and demonstration project to determine the feasibility of using poultry litter as a fuel to generate electric power. (Is there a fowl stench in the air?)
$13,150,000 added by the Senate and in conference for nine projects in the state of Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), including: $3,000,000 for a demonstration project involving leaking fuel tanks in rural Alaskan villages; $2,500,000 for the Alaska Vocational Technical Center in Seward for a maritime vessel simulator; $2,500,000 for the University of Alaska Museum in Fairbanks, which has held such famous exhibits as “Women of the Alaska Gold Rush”; and $350,000 for the Noel Wein Memorial Library in Fairbanks. $9,500,000 added by the Senate in the state of Senate appropriator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) for the Lebanon Veteran Affairs Medical Center for nursing unit renovations, including increased patient privacy.
$8,950,000 added by the Senate and in conference in the state of Senate VA/HUD Appropriations subcommittee member Larry Craig (R-Idaho): $4,750,000 to improve and add facilities to the St. Maries drinking water system; $2,500,000 for the restoration of Milo creek in Kellog and Wardner; $1,200,000 for the University of Idaho’s Riverbend Research and Training Park in Post Falls; and $500,000 for the Treasure Valley Hydrologic Project, to develop a comprehensive understanding of water resources in Ada and Canyon counties.
$5,000,000 added by the Senate for projects in the state of Senate VA/HUD Appropriations subcommittee member Richard Shelby (R-Ala.): $3,000,000 for Geneva county drinking water system improvements; $1,000,000 for the Alabama Center for Estuarine Studies; and $1,000,000 for the development of the Center for Early Southern Life at Alabama Constitution Village in Huntsville.
$3,300,000 added by the House and in conference for projects in the district of House appropriator Joseph McDade (R-Pa.): $1,300,000 for the Lake Wallenpaupack environmental restoration project; $500,000 for Scranton’s Goodwill Industries elderly housing project; $500,000 for a residential treatment facility for autistic adults in Wyoming County; $500,000 to improve the site tipple and yard at the Lackawanna County Coal Mine; and $500,000 to replace the treatment and residential facility in Scranton, which serves and houses children in need of mental health, behavioral, and protective services.
$3,000,000 added by the Senate in the state of Senate appropriator Daniel Inouye (DHawaii), including: $2,000,000 for the Hawaii Housing Authority to construct the Community Resource Center at Kuhio Homes/Kuhio Park Terrace in Honolulu; $500,000 for the EPA’s Office of Sustainable Ecosystems and Communities and the Hawaii Department of Health to conduct demonstration projects to aid the communities on the islands of Maui and Molokai in rehabilitating native Hawaiian fish ponds; and $500,000 for the Ala Wai Canal watershed improvement project.
$2,950,000 added by the Senate for projects in the State of Senate VA/HUD Appropriations subcommittee member Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), including: $1,000,000 for the Lake Champlain Science Center in Burlington; $1,000,000 for downtown development in the city of Barre; $500,000 to renovate the Opera House at Enosburg; $250,000 to work with farmers and the Natural Resources Conservation Service to reduce phosphorous runoff into Lake Memphremagog; and $200,000 for the Burlington Community Land Trust for a multi-generational center.
$2,600,000 added in conference in the state of Senate VA/HUD Appropriations subcommittee member Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.): $1,500,000 for the Sacramento Urban League Workforce Development Center; $350,000 for Marin, one of America’s richest counties, for the development of a cultural and community center; $500,000 for the city of Lancaster, evenly divided between relocation of the 50th District Agricultural Association Fairgrounds and construction of the National Soccer Activity Center; and $250,000 for the city of Stockton to acquire and rehabilitate the Old Stockton Hotel. $2,500,000 added by the Senate and in conference in the state of Senate VA/HUD Appropriations subcommittee member Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.): $750,000 for the New Jersey Community Development Corporation; $750,000 for Cumberland County for the city of Bridgeton redevelopment project; $500,000 for the Lower Essex Street Waterfront Park Project, which will include a fishing pier, pedestrian pathways, and open fields; and $500,000 for construction of the Center for Performing and Visual Arts at Ramapo College.
$2,200,000 added in conference in the district of House VA/HUD Appropriations subcommittee member Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) for the city of Toledo to address improvements to central city neighborhoods, the historic main public library, and downtown area projects, and to leverage the potential of Toledo’s not-for-profit community development corporations.
$2,200,000 added in conference in the district of House VA/HUD Appropriations subcommittee member Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.): $1,000,000 for the city of Parkersburg for economic development and downtown revitalization efforts; $450,000 for the Institute of Software Research in Fairmont; $400,000 for downtown revitalization and historic preservation of the city of Thomas; $250,000 for the Fairmont Community Development Partnership; and $100,000 for the Friends of Highgate in Fairmont.
$1,725,000 added by the House and in conference in the district of House appropriator Anne Northrup (R-Ky.): $1,600,000 for the St. Stephen Lifestyle Enrichment Center Campus for renovations in Louisville and $125,000 for the University of Louisville to establish a regional environmental finance center at the Kentucky Institute for the Environment and Sustainable Development.
$1,450,000 added in conference for projects in Syracuse, in the district of House VA/HUD Appropriations subcommittee member James Walsh (R-N.Y.): $750,000 for St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center for the Central New York Cardiac Care and Hemodialysis Enhancement Center; $400,000 for the Museum of Science and Technology; $200,000 for the renovation of the Boys and Girls Club facilities; and $100,000 for the Sally Coyne Health Care Center for Independence.
$1,000,000 added by the House in the district of VA/HUD Appropriations subcommittee member David Hobson (R-Ohio) for the renovation of Wittenberg University’s science facility. Specifically, the money will be used to provide renovated and enlarged quarters for one large chemistry department. In a press release, Rep. Hobson said he can’t wait to be invited back to see the new chemistry department and laboratory. (Rep. Hobson obviously has no chemistry with the American taxpayer.)
$1,000,000 added in conference for an interactive visitors center and museum for the Mills Spring Battlefield Association in the state of appropriators Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Rep. Anne Northrup (R-Ky.).
$1,000,000 added by the Senate in the state of Senate VA/HUD Appropriations subcommittee member Ben “Nighthorse” Campbell (R-Colo.) for the city of Durango to develop the Cultural Arts Complex of southwest Colorado.
$700,000 added in conference for the renovation of the historic Mackinac County courthouse in Michigan. (Members had ample opportunity to lard up the Treasury/Postal Appropriations Bill with useless courthouse construction.)
$500,000 added by the Senate in the state of Senate appropriator Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) for Turtle Mountain Community College for the Turtle Mountain Economic Development and Education Complex.
$500,000 added by the Senate for the Boston Symphony Orchestra for restoration of the Boston Symphony Hall. (This is a real kick in the brass to taxpayers.)
$500,000 added in conference in the district of House VA/HUD Appropriations subcommittee member Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) for economic redevelopment initiatives in Morristown. According to a press release, it is not even known what will be done with the money yet, although there are “a myriad of projects which might benefit from the infusion of this money.” Possible projects include the preparation of an updated master plan, a streetscape improvement project, and revitalization of both Speedwell and Martin Luther King Avenues, clearly projects of vital national importance.
$300,000 for the City of Bad Axe, Michigan, for a water and sewer project. (Now taxpayers really have an axe to grind.)
$250,000 added in conference in the district of House appropriator Michael Forbes (RN. Y.) for the renovation and revitalization of the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center, in one of the richest towns in New York.
$250,000 added in conference for the demolition of abandoned grain elevators in the town of Tonawanda, New York.
$200,000 added in conference in the district of House appropriator John Olver (D-Mass.) for the construction of the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Science and Technology Center at Assumption College in Worcester. (Taxpayers can assume this is a waste of money.)
$150,000 added in conference for the Minuteman Commuter Bikeway in Massachusetts.