I heard McCain reading off a list of the projects that had been included for various states. Some of them even sounded reasonable. However, they should not be snuck into some other bill. There should be a specific bill called something like “Special Local Projects”. Since each House member has roughly the same number of constituents, then each member should be assigned the same amount of dollars. Then they can decide how much to allocate for the various projects their constituents ask for. We should analyze how many dollars for each of, lets say the past 4 years, has been used for “pork” add-ons to other bills, then average it, reduce it by 20%, and divide that figure by the number of House members.
Then that would be their allowance for “Special Local Projects.” This would be a tax reduction of 20% and a fair distribution to all members for the use of their constituents. There should be a pledge not to include “pork” in any other bills, with strong party discipline.
Akaka's bill is plenty reason to stop it.
I heard McCain’s recitation of the spending. I disagree, none of them were remotely reasonable. They were, for the most part, payoffs to universities for bogus research. If those assholes want to do research, they can do it on their own dime, not mine.