Information from CAGW

Information from CAGW

Citizens Against Government Waste is an excellent source of information about unnecessary spending of taxpayers' money for projects which primarily benefit the re-election prospects of the politicians involved. In other words, it's tax money spent on political favors, and tax money used to buy votes. (By that I mean not only the constituents' votes, but votes in Congress which are bought and sold with "pet projects".) When I first began to research the subject of frivolous and extravagant "pork barrel" projects, one of the first and best sources of information I discovered was CAGW. Here is some of the material I have found at their web site, and information I have found elsewhere on the internet which mentions CAGW.

Some of the items discovered in the Omnibus spending bill are:

$1 million for the Iowa historical Society for exhibits related to the world food prize;

$750,000 for the Baseball Hall of Fame;

$732,000 for the Center for Designing Foods at Iowa State;

$725,000 for the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia;

$500,000 for the Boat House Museum in St. Charles, Missouri;

$500,000 for Tongass Coast Aquarium in Alaska;

$350,000 for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame;

$210,000 for swine hoop barn research in Iowa;

$200,000 for the Maxine Waters Employment Preparation Center;

$150,000 for new office space for the "King of Pork," Sen. Robert Byrd;

$100,000 for the Sea Otter Commission in Alaska;

$90,000 for the Cowgirl Hall of Fame.
Additionally, CAGW's List of Omnibus Earmarks includes
$560,000 for the Montana Sheep Institute in Bozeman

$350,000 for sweet potato research in Miss.

$50,000 to study mushrooms in Booneville, Ark

$900,000 for the renovation of the El Paso Plaza Theater

$300,000 Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, for Universal Kitchen Design project

$650,000 for Horseshoe Crab Research
Where do you think that money comes from?

National Security Versus Pork: Should our tax dollars fund our troops fighting in Iraq, or the Smithsonian's national worm collection? If it's business as usual up at the Capitol, then this is the type of question Congress will grapple with in the coming weeks. And if history is our guide, the outcome is too close to call.

A New Year's spending resolution: What is needed is a counteroffensive that will resonate with everyone who pays the bills for inefficiency, waste, fraud and abuse in and by government. Democrats in the new Congress will predictably battle to preserve outmoded and unneeded government programs because the more people depend on government, the more power the Democrats have.

CAGW's "Porker of the Month" is FAA Administrator Marion Blakey: There are few more costly, wasteful, and mismanaged projects than the Federal Aviation Administration's Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS). To date, 149 STARS systems have been purchased, and only three deployed.

Byrd Droppings: Quotes from Senator Robert Byrd and a long list of projects named for Senator Byrd.

Post Office Under Fire as Rates Rise Yet Again: "In the long run, this rate hike will not serve anyone's interest, least of all the post office," said Leslie K. Paige, vice president of Citizens Against Government Waste. "This substantial increase comes a little more than a year after the last increase and is, without doubt, only a prelude to the next, inevitable, rate case, which could come as early as October of this year. These rate increases are coming faster and are ever more draconian. We've had three hikes in four years, and none of them have stemmed the flow of red ink."

Postal Debt Soars to $13 Billion, Stamp Prices Continue to Climb: New poll shows the public wants a postal audit before stamp prices rise again. CAGW Unveils "Commemorative Stamps" Asking, "Where's Our Money Going?"

Mars? Bring the Deficit Down to Earth First. "Cost estimates for the new programs range from $550 billion to $1 trillion," said CAGW President Tom Schatz. "Until the federal government brings the record deficit back down to Earth, it should not launch expensive new space programs of questionable scientific value."

The Porker of the Month Award award is a dubious honor given to lawmakers, government officials and political candidates who have shown a blatant disregard for the interests of taxpayers.

"2002 Congressional Pig Book" Points to $20 Billion in Government Pork: Since the Pig Book was first released in 1991, CAGW has documented $140 billion in pork barrel spending, which the group defines as projects that serve only a local or special interest, are requested by one chamber of Congress, or greatly exceed either the president's budget request or the previous year's funding.

Government Watchdog Group Slams Senator Daschle As "Porker of the Month": "The farm lobby, labor unions, teachers' unions and the environmentalists have all recently gotten big Christmas presents from the Daschle Democrats, while pressing national business has gone unaddressed," CAGW said in a statement.

Here piggy, piggy, piggy... Geoff Metcalf interviews government-waste expert Tom Schatz (from CAGW) on the latest pork. (This is an astonishing discussion of pork projects at the federal level. You'll be amazed.)

WasteWire: A collection of the bizarre, yet costly ways in which Washington is spending your money.

Hybrid Car Project Wasting Taxpayers' Money, Group Claims: The federal government has spent more than $800 million since 1993 to develop a "super car" capable of traveling 80 miles on one gallon of gasoline. Although funding for the hybrid car program has been matched by the Big Three U.S. automakers, critics say it's time for the government to scrap the program and stop wasting taxpayer money.

Excerpt from a recent CAGW article: Alaska again led the nation with $766 per capita ($480 million), or 30 times the national average of $25. The runners up were Hawaii with $391 per capita ($474 million) and Mississippi with $236 per capita ($672 million). The common thread among the top three per-capita states is that they are represented by powerful senators and appropriators - Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), Senate appropriator Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), and Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.).

Editor's note: West Virginia, number four on the list, is the home of Robert Byrd, the senator who once called himself "West Virginia's billion-dollar industry." Here is a long list of Projects Named For Senator Byrd.

Taxpayer Group Blasts U.S. Postal Service.

Deficits Again? Not if we Cut Federal Bloat. It is business as usual again in Washington as budget deficits return. Who's going to win the battle over what to do � fiscal conservatives or big spenders?

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