News
Maine
Gets $41.28 per person in Federal Pork
By Elizabeth Prata
WASHINGTON-- Some call it pork while others call it
bringing home the bacon. One DC group calls it federal
waste and wants to end the practice by highlighting
the abuses that go along with federal spending projects.
Citizens Against Government Waste last week released
their annual "Pig Book." The 630 projects
highlighted, totaling $3.1 billion, in this year's
"Congressional Pig Book" point out what
the watchdog group sees as being the most outrageous
examples of pork spending. Projects must meet at least
one of seven criteria in order to qualify as pork:
--Requested by only one chamber of Congress;
--Not specifically authorized;
--Not competitively awarded;
--Not requested by the President;
--Greatly exceeds the President's budget request or
the previous year's funding;
--Not the subject of congressional hearings; or
--Serves only a local or special interest.
"During election years, politicians make speeches
about how concerned they are with wasteful spending,
the deficit, and the fiscal woes of the nation.
But as soon as the television cameras are turned off,
they brag about the pork that they are bringing home
to their state or district. This hypocrisy has helped
to create a $521 billion deficit and a $7.1 trillion
national debt," CAGW reports in the summary of
the book.
"This year's total reveals that Congress porked
out at record levels. For fiscal 2004, appropriators
stuck 10,656 projects in the 13 appropriations bills,
an increase of 13 percent over last year's total of
9,362. In the last two years, the total number of
projects has increased 28 percent. The cost of these
projects in fiscal 2004 was $22.9 billion, or 1.6
percent more than last year's total of $22.5 billion.
In fact, the total cost of pork has increased by 14
percent since fiscal 2004. Total pork identified by
Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) since 1991
adds up to $185 billion."
This year there were significant spending increases
in three areas according CAGW: Foreign Operations
from $181.4 million to $449 million (148 percent);
Transportation/Treasury from $3.3 billion to $4.4
billion (33 percent); and Interior from $344 million
$446 million (29 percent).
Alaska received the highest pork of all the 50 states
with her Congressional delegation bringing home "$808
per capita ($524 million), or 26 times the national
pork average of $31. The runners up were Hawaii with
$393 per capita ($494 million) and the District of
Columbia with $321 per capita ($181 million)."
Maine, in comparison, dropped from 20th to 21st in
terms of pork brought to the state from Washington.
CAGW identified nearly $54 million in pork spending
for Maine projects. $41.28 per person living in Maine
comes to the state in pork with the FY 2004 budget.
Maine was not the only New England state to lose ground
in this study. Vermont went from being the 9th highest
receiver of pork to being the 12th and Rhode Island
fell slightly from 15th to 17th. Massachusetts moved
up 11 slots in the pork list to 39th place. Connecticut,
which receives $67.6 million in federal pork, moved
up two slots to 36.
The biggest New England change, however, came from
New Hampshire. The Granite State may have lost the
"Old Man of the Mountain" but they saw their
federal pork rocket to $278.5 million with the FY
2004 budget. That means that the federal government
is sending more than $215 per New Hampshire resident
in federally-funded projects in the "Live Free
or Die" state.
The book also provides some examples of the "oinker"
projects it tracked:
---a $50 million project to build an indoor rainforest
in Iowa; $2.25 million in federal funding going to
various Shakespeare programs; and $3 million for the
First Tee program in St Augustine, Florida.
