Pork Alert! Citizens Against Government Waste looks at the defense spending bill
posted at 3:43 pm on November 7, 2007 by Bryan
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Surprise! Congress is larding up the defense budget with miscellaneous taxpayer-funded boondoggles.
# $25,000,000 for the Hawaii Federal Health Care Network, added by Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii).
# $23,000,000 for the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC), added by Rep. John “Jack” Murtha (D-Pa.). This is the project over which Rep. Murtha threatened a colleague for challenging in the spring. Since 1992, more than $509 million has been used to fund NDIC, which is administered by the Department of Justice (DOJ.). Ironically, DOJ does not want the NDIC and has asked Congress to shut the agency down because the department believes the operations are duplicative.
# *$20,000,000 for historically black colleges and universities, added by Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.).
# $5,000,000 for Project SOAR, added by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa), and Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa).
# *$5,000,000 for the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) Paralympic Military Program, added by Reps. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.) and Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.).
# $4,800,000 for the Jamaica Bay Unit of Gateway National Recreation Area added by Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.). The Gateway National Recreation Area’s website describes the Jamaica Bay Unit as “a wealth of history, nature and recreation, from New York City’s first major airport and coastal fortifications to a wildlife refuge and pristine beaches.”
# *$3,000,000 for “The First Tee,” added by House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) The program’s mission, according to its website, is “To impact the lives of young people by providing learning facilities and educational programs that promote character development and life-enhancing values through the game of golf.” First Tee won CAGW’s “The Taxpayers Get Teed Off” Oinker Award in 2004 for receiving $3 million in two separate appropriations bills.
The First Tee? I’m sure that it’s a swell project, and Clyburn can prove it by using his own money to finance it. What, he doesn’t have $3 million laying around for that? Well neither do I and I suspect that you don’t either. If you do, let’s talk.
CAGW has uncovered quite a few other ridiculous big ticket items in the defense bill that have nothing whatsoever to do with defense. Like $2 million for “brown tree snakes.” $1.6 million for a telescope. &c.
I have three words for Congress: Line item veto. And four more words: Now more than ever.
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Whoa, the thumbnail on the main page is in serious need of cropping.
Mindcrime on November 7, 2007 at 3:44 PM
I think it’s a metaphor for the whole “government waste” thing.
Kowboy on November 7, 2007 at 3:45 PM
Hold your snorts, it’s fixed already.
Bryan on November 7, 2007 at 3:45 PM
LOL.
Mindcrime on November 7, 2007 at 3:46 PM
I thought it was appropriate myself. :)
Kowboy on November 7, 2007 at 3:47 PM
I thought it was appropriate myself. :)
Kowboy on November 7, 2007 at 3:47 PM
Mindcrime on November 7, 2007 at 3:49 PM
I am becoming more and more sympathetic to that couple, in Maine I think, who refuse to pay their income tax and are in a standoff with the feds.
VolMagic on November 7, 2007 at 3:50 PM
That ended a couple of weeks ago. Feds walked up posing as friends bringing food or something. They just answered the door and got arrested.
Kowboy on November 7, 2007 at 3:52 PM
Golf programs in a defense spending bill. Recreational areas in a defense spending bill. Money for black colleges in a defense spending bill.
I know this flys in the face of generations of legislation and the quid-pro-quo of politics but IMO if it has absolutely nothing to do with defense, it doesn’t belong in a bill that deals with national defense. Let programs to teach inner-city kids how to golf stand on its own merits alongside other urban program. Let that weasel Weiner attach his pork to the Interior Department Budget Bill where it belongs. And Jack Murtha just needs to go to jail for all the corruption he’s on record of supporting!
highhopes on November 7, 2007 at 3:55 PM
The weight of this country’s debt will buckle the shoulders of the taxpayers.
There will come a time when this country’s “smoke and mirrors” economy will collapse, and the pigs inside of the Beltway couldn’t care less.
OhEssYouCowboys on November 7, 2007 at 3:58 PM
Only one Republican cited in the article (Grassley).
Talk about waste. This is disgusting, but “on par” (pun intended) with the lefties in Congress.
Corky on November 7, 2007 at 4:01 PM
Yeah. My son was in a First Tee program. I paid for it though. Why finance what people will pay for?
Topsecretk9 on November 7, 2007 at 4:01 PM
Click the link. They are a few more republicans on the list, although predominately democrats, including:
Topsecretk9 on November 7, 2007 at 4:06 PM
In my opinion, this continued behavior by our Congress is tantamount to criminal embezzlement.
CP on November 7, 2007 at 4:10 PM
Can’t they throw in a cool $25 mill for “Blog Commenters Relief Fund” and let me disburse it?
Just call it The Carpal Tunnel Act of 2007.
A better return on your taxes than the Big Dig, guaranteed.
profitsbeard on November 7, 2007 at 4:12 PM
There’s something fishy about that “National Drug Intelligence Center” that John Murtha has sent over $509 Million Dollars of taxpayer money to pay for. I think Murtha might be getting some kickbacks.
SoulGlo on November 7, 2007 at 4:14 PM
They can end their search by pointing the array at San Francisco. Not so intelligent, but there nonetheless.
fogw on November 7, 2007 at 4:18 PM
Five words (but one’s a contraction): This Congress won’t pass it.
Let me suggest another approach. Look, you Congresspeople, in your desire to understand those poorly misunderstood muslims, whose hearts and minds we could win if we could only be more sensitive to them, here’s your chance. Since muslims forbid pork, you could reach out to them, and show that we are sensitive to their needs, by cutting down on the pork you inflict on your fellow Americans.
Bigfoot on November 7, 2007 at 4:18 PM
Bigfoot-
A few more words:
Congress gave the Line Item Veto Power to Pres. Clinton in 1996.
He used it 82 times.
Then the Supreme Court outlawed it, June 25, 1998.
Checkmate.
Until a newly-composed Supreme Court sees different.
profitsbeard on November 7, 2007 at 4:43 PM
You wonder if Congress actually does any good. It seems like they just spend their time trying to figure out more ways to spend our money. Between this, the lobbyists, and re-election campaigns, what is Congress really good for?
If any business acted this way there would be jail time. This congress only cares about the children because they know SOMEBODY is going to have to pay for all their spending. They’ll be retired by the time it’ll matter.
This list is shameful.
ThackerAgency on November 7, 2007 at 4:54 PM
What can you say…just look at the list. Disgusting.
right2bright on November 7, 2007 at 5:19 PM
I am becoming more and more sympathetic to that couple, in Maine I think, who refuse to pay their income tax and are in a standoff with the feds.
VolMagic on November 7, 2007 at 3:50 PM
NewsFlash
Feds took em into to custody maybe a month and a half ago.
CommentGuy on November 7, 2007 at 9:09 PM
So is the middle one (big) Murtha?
91Veteran on November 7, 2007 at 10:57 PM
They could save even more by not funding it, and just following around Denny-poo Kucie.
91Veteran on November 7, 2007 at 11:00 PM
As usual, pork is clogging our arteries as they (Congress) put as much spending in bills that have nothing to do with the bill being put forward. This clogging will stop critical blood flow to the heart which is always the politicians target organ to get what they want past.
The only practical solution is to rule that in drafting a bill nothing (like new laws) that is not directly relevant be considered-if it is that important draft a whole new bill.
Spending appropriations, likewise must have a direct collation to the appropriations being examined. No fair trying to convolute the issue or appropriation to claim it is relevant. The following example is a primary example of that which I speak.
Please tell me how the following has anything to do with National Defense.
# $4,800,000 for the Jamaica Bay Unit of Gateway National Recreation Area added by Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.). The Gateway National Recreation Area’s website describes the Jamaica Bay Unit as “a wealth of history, nature and recreation, from New York City’s first major airport and coastal fortifications to a wildlife refuge and pristine beaches.”
MSGTAS on November 8, 2007 at 10:16 AM
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