The Three Little Pigs – Stevens, Cochran, and Shelby (all Republicans)
Congress spent $17.2 billion of taxpayer money on pork-barrel projects, according to the Citizens Against Government Waste. The nonpartisan, nonprofit group released its annual book detailing congressional spending for the 2008 fiscal year.
For the first time, the names of members of Congress were added to the projects. The top three spenders were Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., with $892 million; Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska with $469 million; and Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., with $465 million. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., was No. 13 on the list with $296 million in pork-barrel projects and her presidential rival Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., was No. 69 with $97 million. Sen. John McCain R-Ari., was among five senators who didn’t spend a single pork-barrel dollar, according to the list. Alaska led the nation with $556 in pork per capita ($380 million total), followed by Hawaii with $221 ($283 million) and North Dakota with $208.
Citizens Against Government Waste counted 11,610 projects in the current spending plan. The 59-page Pig Book highlights 1,188 projects totaling $2.8 billion that “symbolize the most egregious and blatant examples of pork.”
Where are the tax and spend liberals on this list, or is that just a myth?
I respect McCain when it comes to pork spending, but still dont want him as president. ever.
wtf alaska/hawaii?
“Tax and spend liberals” typically refers to raising taxes to spend on huge government programs that inspire a welfare state.
But pork barrel spending is typically freebies thrown to political cronies to buy favor.
And if you are looking for the Democrats on the list (besides the two Democrats up for the presidential nomination the article already included), look at the full list from the source. (Warning they are PDFs)
http://www.cagw.org/site/DocServer/Senate_-_dollar.pdf?docID=3024
http://www.cagw.org/site/DocServer/House_-_dollar.pdf?docID=3022
There is no defense for this by ANY party. Stop with the partisan skew. This is corruption at it’s grandest scale.
#2 No warning needed, foxit reader installed.
#3 – TGIF! (Thank Goodness It’s Foxit!)
I will NEVER go back to Adobe bloatware. Never.
If the fedgov would live up to the statehood act and ANILCA, our economy will not need the pork.
If you count only private land (not encumbered by federal laws as the Native Corporation land is), Alaska would be one of the medium small states. The land is mostly either federal or (encumbered) Native corporation land.
Where’s the outrage that the feds have tied up the land? Pork costs YOU out of pocket. Freeing the land takes nothing out of your pockets.
How’d Robert Byrd drop so far? He was the King of Pork, who actually stepped down as majority leader so he could get more pork for his state.
I see two fine Dem Representatives from MN at 15 and 21 and I’m surprised Oberstar fell that far.
This kind of thing crosses all party lines. An interesting related measure would be “porkiness” per dollar or “boondoggle factor”.
This is why I don’t like to pay taxes (besides the obvious reason that I’m cheap).
I don’t mind paying for what I use or what benefits me, but I do mind paying for what I will never use or see, and which I do not receive any benefit.
Those who benefit should pay, therefore pork barrel should come from the state coffers, not federal. Then watch how fast the pork disappears!
Its always the same old story
To a degree you have to blame the American voters who allow this to go on
In effect they are being bribed with their own money
How foolish
I’m afraid the reason it continues is because the attitude is “The spending in your state is wasteful ‘pork’ but the spending in my state is for necessary projects.”
With that kind of money we should have universal healthcare!
#11 – This is what the government does with your tax dollars and you STILL want to turn over your health care to them? WTF?
“Where are the tax and spend liberals on this list, or is that just a myth?”
The party out of power doesn’t get the chance. You would have to go back to the days of Tip & every year before that for 40 years. Add it up & the dems win hands down.
Pork suckers like those Republican in name only bastards at the top of the list attract the pork from the party in power to BUY their votes.
I am embarrassed to say I am a Republican after watching how those useless tards allowed pork spending to explode during the, what, 12 years or so they had control of Congress.
Republicans seem to just like to spend money on deficit spending. Democrats like to raise taxes so they can spend even more money!
Don
Republicans seem to just like to spend money on deficit spending. Democrats like to raise taxes so they can spend even more money!
Don
Democrats: tax and spend
Republicans: borrow and spend
(did that as a JavaScript on my website)
J/P=?
Alright, so some politicians spend money on their districts / states. So what is “pork”?
If my Congressman gets some federal money to fix a dangerous intersection by building a bypass, is that pork?
If a Senator gets some federal money to reclaim some swampland from development, is that pork?
If my representative gets some federal money to help a small start-up company develop a cancer drug, is that pork?
The list provided seems nice, but didn’t show what was considered “pork”. The only answer then is as Bill (#10) pointed out.
“The spending in your state is wasteful ‘pork’ but the spending in my state is for necessary projects.”
Maybe a better chart would be which districts benefited the most from government no-bid contracts or contracts awarded with the representative sitting on the oversight committee? That is the real theft of American taxpayer money. And I’m sure the total would dwarf the “pork” list.
#16 – “which districts benefited the most from government no-bid contracts or contracts awarded with the representative sitting on the oversight committee?”
This also is a good place to look for graft, etc.
This list is just a “feel good” about hating the government, and largely ignores real spending problems, as pointed out by digby:
http://tinyurl.com/3ac2fl
I especially liked the link to how the military paid nearly $1 Mill to ship 2 19 cent washers!
# 14 Don said,
“I am embarrassed to say I am a Republican….”
I think you are more like many people recently who are waking up to the reality that there are actions to despise in any of the main political parties. I don’t even consider a candidate’s political party when I evaluate them for my vote. If anything, a candidate who is backed by a multi-million dollar campaign provided by their political party makes me very suspicious of how that political party expects payback on their “investment”.
When “We the people” begin to stop automatically voting for Republicans or Democrats, I believe things will start to change for the better.
Vote with your vote!
>> Todd Henkel said,
>> There is no defense for this by ANY party. Stop with the partisan skew. This is corruption at it’s grandest scale.
Here is why we Dems are so cranky about this: THE REPUBLICANS BEAT THE CRAP OUR OF US over this issue for decades.
After sanctimoniously finger-wagging as us for “tax and spend liberalism” they gave us something even worse: “borrow and spend conservatism” and they then they even out-spent us!
Even now, Dems try to find funding for a project before starting and Republicans beat us over th ehead for it. The most recent example was the Dem effort to get healthcare to children… Bush justified his veto because it supposedly included a tax increase.
If we Dems governed like the Republicans, we just would have started a gigantic program but not bothered finding funding for it.
Even though the Democrats have been out of power for the last 12 years, looking at this list, they still did pretty well whe it come to pork. Give them time, they’ll get to top.
Tax and Spend vs. Borrow and Spend
No matter which, it all comes out of OUR pockets one way or another.
#21 & 22 –
“Never spend your money before you have earned it.”
“I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them. “
>>> becagle said,
>>> Tax and Spend vs. Borrow and Spend
>>> No matter which, it all comes out of OUR pockets one way or another.
Actually, “Borrow and Spend” is MUCH WORSE fiscal policy. For starters, it about doubles the cost of everything because of interest on the debt.
Secondly, having foreigners like China and Saudi Arabia hold so much of our debt makes us economically weaker and vulnerable to their demands.
Thirdly, of course, is that it lowers the prosperity of the next generation or two — just the opposite of progress.
I’m sure there’s a fourth, fifth and more reasons why Republican/Reagan Borrow and Spend policy is just horrible.
#22 – Exactly. Remember all governments have NO money at all. It’s all OUR money.
Citizens Against Government Waste look them up on guidestar.org and see their 990 non profit tax return… looks like the executives do well “fighting government waste”,… one of the scammers takes a salary over $250,000 + expenses.. they collect over $5,000,000 a year… looks like a scam to me.