Things that go oink in the night: despite tough economic times, Congress has approved federal monies for preschool anger management, sea-otter research and the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame

0 Comments | Insight on the News, May 13, 2003 | by Sheila R. Cherry

At a press conference to roll out the 2003 Congressional Pig Book Summary, representatives of the Washington watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) were joined by Sen. John McCain and Rep. Jeff Flake, both Arizona Republicans, and GOP Rep. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. McCain congratulated members of the House for passing a "relatively clean" supplemental bill for the war in Iraq and homeland security, but was less charitable in his remarks about the Senate's behavior. He called the Senate spending for fiscal 2003 a "disgraceful performance" and the worst he had seen in his 20 years in Congress. McCain was outraged that he was able to collect only 38 cosponsors for his proposal to cut $149 million in pork-barrel projects that had been added in the Senate.

Flake blames the appropriations process, complaining that members were given only four hours to review the omnibus appropriation bill, which he described as standing 18 inches tall and containing more than 3,000 pages. "That is not by accident; that is by design," he says. Under House rules, members are entitled to three days to review a bill that large, Flake says, "but of course if we gave everybody three days, then we'd know about all these pork projects."

To thwart the urge to splurge, Flake wants a process built into the rules that will force members to defend and justify their pork projects in an open forum on the House floor. After all, is the U.S. economy strong enough to support congressional largesse that earmarks $1 million for oyster recovery in South Carolina? Are critics of the Bush administration's tax-cut proposals justified in approving $1 million in federal cash for the Bering Sea crab in Alaska, or for the brown tree snake in Hawaii? "Or should those same millions be used to begin replacing the thousands of Tomahawk cruise missiles at $1 million each that have been used in Iraq?" CAGW analysts ask.

CAGW President Tom Schatz notes that during the last two years, as the United States came under terrorist attack and responded to prevent further attacks, the number of pork projects has increased by 47.8 percent, and total pork-barrel spending has risen by 21.6 percent. Schatz compares that with the spending cuts that preceded World War II, when nondefense spending was slashed by 22 percent, and during the Korean War, when nondefense discretionary spending dropped 25 percent.

Congressional pork, as the CAGW defines it, is appropriated tax money either: 1) requested by only one chamber of Congress; 2) not specifically authorized by congressional committees; 3) not competitively bid under the federal contract-awards process; 4) not requested by the president; 5) greatly exceeding the president's budget request or the previous year's funding; 6) not subjected to congressional hearings; or 7) serving only a local or special interest.

This year, with the economy suffering and U.S. military forces engaged in fighting the war on terror, the record levels of congressional pork are more outrageous than ever. "We still have soldiers on food stamps," an exasperated Schatz fumed, suggesting that this might include families of some serving in Iraq today.

More than 250,000 American troops are deployed in the Middle Eastern war zone, and others are on alert around the world. An additional 108,000 workers joined the ranks of the unemployed in February. The federal budget deficit hovered around $300 billion and, due to anticipated costs of homeland security and the conflict in Iraq, the red ink still is rising. Nevertheless, CAGW representatives assert, after ending four-and-a-half months of continuing resolutions since failing to pass a federal budget by the Oct. 1 start of the fiscal year, Congress had to make do by passing an omnibus spending bill on Feb. 13. Apparently unswayed by either the budget failure or the unstable economy, Schatz estimated that the omnibus appropriation might have been the "porkiest" in U.S. history.

With record levels of state or recipient-specific "earmarks" for fiscal 2003, Congress outspent the previous fiscal year by 12 percent, an added total of $22.5 billion. In other words, 7.5 percent of the federal deficit that so many members of Congress have been complaining about in recent days resulted from congressional pork-barrel spending. The price to taxpayers for this, according to CAGW, has totaled $162 billion since 1991.

Cash-strapped taxpayers might be stunned to learn what members managed to add once they convened in private House and Senate conference negotiations at which staffs reconcile differences in companion legislation passed in each chamber. For instance, $250,000 "to implement the National Preschool Anger Management Project" for the home state of Sen. Tom Harkin and Rep. Tom Latham, both Iowa Democrats. This program, which teaches child-care providers how to handle preschool temper tantrums, might prove useful for citizens who find out that their tax dollars paid for it. This appropriation won CAGW's "Deficit in My Diaper Award."