Citizens Against Government Waste: 2005 Pig Book Exposes 27.3 bill pork

[liveoaktx]

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=45428

WASHINGTON, April 6 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today released the 2005 Congressional Pig Book, a sweeping compendium of the pork-barrel projects in the federal budget.

Congress spent more tax dollars on pork this year than in any other year in history. For fiscal 2005, appropriators stuffed 13,997 projects into the 13 appropriations bills, an increase of 31 percent over last year's total of 10,656. In the last two years, the total number of projects has increased by 49.5 percent. The cost of these projects in fiscal 2005 was $27.3 billion, or 19 percent more than last year's total of $22.9 billion. In fact, the total cost of pork has increased by 21 percent since fiscal 2003. Total pork identified by CAGW since 1991 adds up to $212 billion.

"Despite a record $427 billion deficit predicted for fiscal 2005, members of Congress are engaging in the worst form of blatant self-interest; larding the budget with pork for home districts and states," CAGW President Tom Schatz said.

Examples of pork in the 2005 Pig Book include:

-- $10,000,000 for the International Fund for Ireland;

-- $3,000,000 for the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation;

-- $1.7 million for the International Fertilizer Development Center;

-- $1,430,000 for various Halls of Fame, including $250,000 for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tenn., and $70,000 for the Paper Industry International Hall of Fame in Appleton, Wis.;

-- $350,000 for the Inner Harmony Foundation and Wellness Center in Scranton, Penn.;

-- $100,000 for the Tiger Woods Foundation; and

-- $100,000 for the Bach to School Program.

The 2005 Congressional Pig Book Summary is the little pink book available in paperback; it details 470 of the most egregious examples of pork, gives pork per capita rankings by state, and calls out the worst offenders in Congress with the annual "Oinker Awards." The 13,997 projects in the complete Pig Book are available in a searchable database at http://www.cagw.org.

[KoKo]

1. Excuse me? The "Tiger Woods Foundation?" Hmmmm...he doesn't

have money for his own foundation, he needs our tax dollars to start one?

How about me asking for $100,000 for the "KoKo01" Foundation. Now let's see ....I could claim I'm going to give DU Scholarships on how to post political thoughts on the Internet to needy folks who feel disenfranchised from our political system. :think:

[Dark]

2. PAPER INDUSTRY INTERNATIONAL HALL OF FAME!?

:wtf:

Who would visit that?

"Hey kids, I know you wanted to go to Disney World. But I found a much better place! The Paper Industry International Hall of Fame!"

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

3. $200B+ and counting, in foreign war pork.

[BuyingThyme]

4. This report's been Freeped.

Where's the 200+ billion for the MIC (Haliburton, Bechtel, etc.)?

(I'm just using the "Freeped" label to make the point.)

[OneBlueSky]

5. 13,977 projects in the Pig Book . . .

and not one of our "representatives" in Congress sounded the alarm . . . shows you how well they're looking after our interests and our hard-earned dollars in Washington . . . they're all pigs, as far as I'm concerned . . .