Each year, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), a non-partisan research group, releases its so-called “Pig Book,” identifying what it describes as federal pork and wasteful spending. The group says West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd (D) is “the largest porker in history.”
The group estimates that Byrd, who has served on the Appropriations Committee for 40 years, today brings home $128 worth of pork per constituent in West Virginia. This compares favorably with his neighbors: residents of Maryland receive less than $17 per person in spending and Virginia residents receive $27 per person.
“He enjoys every minute of taking our money and stuffing it back in West Virginia,” said CAGW President Thomas Schatz.
But Byrd has never been bothered by such criticism. Instead, he wears it as a badge of honor. "He has more than two dozen facilities, roads, bridges schools, awards named after him," Schatz noted. "He once said, 'you may as well slap my wife as to take highway funds from West Virginia.'"