Posted on 04/10/2008 10:26:09 AM PDT by jazusamo
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Brian Baird, D-Wash., wants $500,000 in federal money to build a welcome center in Ridgefield and $1 million for a new records management system for the city of Vancouver.
Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., wants $1 million to study rare blood issues at a Puget Sound blood center and $1.5 million to assess the feasibility of building a sea wall in Elliott Bay.
Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., is seeking $1.5 million in federal money to expand a cystic fibrosis program at Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center, while Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., wants $500,000 for organic farming research at Washington State University and $4.5 million for the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge Estuary Restoration Program.
These projects sought by members of the state's congressional delegation are among thousands of proposed congressional earmarks -- often derided as pork spending -- sought for the federal fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.
It is a rite of spring in the nation's capital, along with the blossoming of cherry trees and the influx of tourists, that lawmakers submit long lists of earmark requests to congressional committees in a quest for funding.
The scores of items included on such wish lists may have utility for local constituents and even for national security. But earmarks in general are controversial because lawmakers often insert them without going through the normal congressional funding process, which includes open hearings, debate and witness testimony.
Although earmark requests still must be approved by the various committees before the projects actually receive funding, the earmark process is considerably less transparent than when an executive agency requests money for a program.
Earmarks usually reflect the priorities of individual lawmakers, even if relevant federal agencies conclude that the projects are unnecessary.
At a time when voters complain about federal spending, earmarks have earned the scorn of some lawmakers and watchdog organizations.
A survey by Citizens Against Government Waste, a nonpartisan watchdog group, found a total of 11,610 pork projects, worth $17.2 billion, included in spending bills approved by the Congress for the current fiscal year.
Sen. John McCain of Arizona, for example, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has built a career shaming his colleagues for requesting earmarks. McCain is on a short list of five senators and 10 House members who don't request earmarks, according to Citizens Against Government Waste.
Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., says earmarks are a waste of money because they take away from more important spending priorities.
"We're heavily in debt as a nation. We don't need to be spending taxpayer dollars this way, billions and billions of dollars," said DeMint told Fox News.
"We're actually spending Social Security money on these projects, like the Woodstock hippie museum in New York. It goes on and on," DeMint said.
Washington state lawmakers are divided over the issue of earmarks, with most unabashedly supporting them on the theory that helping get federal funds for local projects will cancel out any controversy about whether earmarks undermine good government.
Larsen, for example, boasted in a statement that by releasing his list of earmark requests, he will "provide constituents with more information about my work to secure federal funding for local priorities."
Larsen said he had received more than 140 requests "from constituents and organizations" asking him for earmarks in the coming fiscal year. He winnowed the list down to 59.
Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., declined to release his earmark wish list because, his spokesman George Behan said, it is "a work in progress."
As a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, Dicks has "a window on the process that perhaps other noncommittee members may not have, so there are typically items that we express support for" later on in the legislative process," Behan said.
"We consult the various subcommittees and attempt to assure that major issues in the 6th District and around the state are covered."
Democratic Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell and Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., also declined to release their lists of earmark requests.
"We don't release internal memos/letters," said Ciaran Clayton, a spokeswoman for Cantwell.
Two state Republican -- Reps. Dave Reichert and Cathy McMorris Rodgers, -- say they have sworn off earmarks in the coming fiscal year because of the controversy.
McMorris Rodgers said that although she is proud of her earmarks, "business as usual is not acceptable," she said in a statement. "Time and time again I've seen where the earmark process has been used and abused for personal and political gain. Congress needs real earmark reform."
For the current fiscal year, Citizens Against Government Waste ranked Murray seventh the 100 U.S. senators in terms of spending on pork projects, and while Cantwell ranked 40th. The group ranked Dicks 10th among his colleagues in the House.
The group ranked Washington state 25th in pork-barrel spending, on a per-capita basis.
The organization found that Murray had earmarked 208 projects to the state worth $327 million, whereas Dicks, Washington state's top pork getter in the House, was responsible for 77 projects valued at $105 million.
WA Ping!
People need to demand that all “Pork” be brought to an end until this country is out of debt. The people better start demanding this or nothing will ever change.
Say WA? Evergreen State ping
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