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Another Omnibus Spending Bill Loaded with Pork
The Heritage Foundation ^ | December 2, 2003 | Brian M. Riedl

Posted on 12/08/2003 7:48:30 PM PST by Calpernia


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Another Omnibus Spending Bill Loaded with Pork
by Brian M. Riedl
WebMemo #377

December 2, 2003 |

|


 

The congressional spending spree of the past few years is well-documented, and this year promises to be no different. Over the last four years, federal spending has increased from $16,000 per household to $20,000 per household, the highest level since World War II.[1]

 

The Medicare and energy bills, although experiencing different fates, share one common denominator: little reform at huge cost, while loaded with special-interest spending.

 

Congress’s continued fiscal irresponsibility is clearly exhibited in the thousands of pork projects contained in the fiscal year 2004 omnibus spending bill. Congress is set to bust its own budget cap in order to protect pork projects such as the Please Touch Museum and Trout Genome Mapping.

 

Historically, Congress funded grant programs and then asked federal agencies, governors, and mayors to competitively award the grants to the most capable applicants. But over the past few years, Congress has aggressively begun bypassing these agencies, governors, and mayors and selecting the grant recipients themselves, such as Police Athletic League and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (these projects selected by Congress instead of agencies are called earmarks, or pork projects). Grant seekers can no longer simply submit a persuasive grant proposal to an unbiased agency. Now, they must master the Washington influence game and hire a lobbyist to pursue their interest.

 

Predictably, an entire lobbying industry has emerged to secure pork projects for those willing to pay for their services. Organizations and local governments seeking federal money can choose between dozens of powerful lobbying firms who effectively trade campaign contributions for earmarks.[2]

 

Auctioning pork projects to the highest bidder reduces the number of merit-based grants for distribution by federal agencies, governors and mayors. These shortages induce Congress to expand these programs – and then earmark those new funds as well. Consequently, the number of pork projects skyrocketed from under 2,000 five years ago to 9,362 in the 2003 budget. Total spending on pork projects has correspondingly increased to over $23 billion.[3]

This trend continues in the fiscal year (FY) 2004 appropriations bills, which include approximately 10,000 earmarks. The FY 2004 omnibus appropriations bill (HR 2673), which combines the seven bills that have not yet been enacted, includes the following pork projects:

Congress can begin a new era of fiscal restraint by scrubbing the omnibus bill clean of pork projects, and reducing wasteful spending. Overwhelmed taxpayers deserve nothing less.

—Brian M. Riedl is Grover M. Hermann Fellow in Federal Budgetary Affairs in the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation.


[1] See Brian M. Riedl, “$20,000 per Household: The Highest Level of Federal Spending Since World War II” Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. 1710, December 2, 2003 at http://www.heritage.org/Research/Budget/BG1710.cfm.
[2]See Ronald D. Utt, Ph.D., and Christopher B. Summers, “Can Congress Be Embarrassed into Ending Wasteful Pork-Barrel Spending?” Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. 1527, March 15, 2002 at http://www.heritage.org/Research/Budget/BG1527.cfm.
[3] According to Citizens Against Government Waste, www.cagw.org.


© 2003 The Heritage Foundation All Rights Reserved.
214 Massachusetts Ave NE
Washington, DC 20002-4999
phone - 202.546.4400 | fax - 202.546.8328
e-mail - staff@heritage.org


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: brianriedl; budget; federalspending; grants; heritagefoundation; politics; pork; porkbarrel
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To: GeronL
sounds possible :-)

Actually, my guess would be a program for minority kids at the Fender Guitar factory .. but lemme check:

Yup! I win :-)

No mention of minority status .. but the pics at http://www.fendermuseum.com/kidsrockfreeedupro.html are a multicultural mix, and they teach (amongst other things) mariachi music.

And there's a great swag of Fender Guitars on the walls :-)

Sadim
21 posted on 12/08/2003 10:43:32 PM PST by sadimgnik
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To: GeronL
sounds possible :-)

Actually, my guess would be a program for minority kids at the Fender Guitar factory .. but lemme check:

Yup! I win :-)

No mention of minority status .. but the pics at http://www.fendermuseum.com/kidsrockfreeedupro.html are a multicultural mix, and they teach (amongst other things) mariachi music.

And there's a great swag of Fender Guitars on the walls :-)

Sadim
22 posted on 12/08/2003 10:45:37 PM PST by sadimgnik
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To: sadimgnik
Guessing is pretty fun
23 posted on 12/08/2003 10:47:35 PM PST by GeronL (My tagline for rent..... $5 per month or 550 posts/replies, whichever comes first... its a bargain!!)
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To: sadimgnik
$150,000 Renovation off Farmers market, Dallas, Texas

OK, this one is local. Why are federal funds needed to 'renovate' an empty spot that people sell produce in out of their pick-ups??

$200,000 Merit School of Music’s after school program

Why does a music school need federal dollars?, let the parents pay!

$200,000 Advanced Traffic Analysis Center, North Dakota

There ain't no traffic in North Dakota!!

$250,000 Nevada Test Site Oral History Project

Now they have a jobs program for Monica Lewinsky... had to see that one coming

24 posted on 12/08/2003 10:52:25 PM PST by GeronL (My tagline for rent..... $5 per month or 550 posts/replies, whichever comes first... its a bargain!!)
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To: Calpernia
$400 billion over 10 years for Medicare and they still spend all this pork. There is a need for a common sense Party that is dedicated to devolving the central government. Cut out the middle man and keep the money locally to begin with. As long as people keep calling for more government, it naturally will oblige. Disturbing.

Time for "NO PORK" candidate litmus test. But how does someone that like that win an election absent large turnout of self sufficient responsible voters? We have to change the image of what is good representation. It should be bad (a sin) to covet (tax) other people's goods for ones pet projects. The recipient community sees it as a virtue that their representative has taken other citizen's money, skimmed for their own sustenance, and then redistributed it according to their own corrupted ideals.
25 posted on 12/09/2003 9:42:17 PM PST by Kudsman (LIE= ""We have to exert all of our efforts militarily" Hillary Nov. 2003)
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To: Kudsman
That is why, in reference to what we were talking about, we take each community, set them up with the Trusts and have the funds stay where they belong. Then, no need for pork, no political favors.

Solves lots of problems.
26 posted on 12/09/2003 9:51:00 PM PST by Calpernia (Innocence seldom utters outraged shrieks. Guilt does.)
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