2005 Congressional Pig Book Summary

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Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW)

The 2005 Congressional Pig Book Summary is the little pink book that gives a snapshot of each appropriations bill and details 570 of the juciest projects culled from the complete Pig Book.

Once again, Congress porked out at record levels. 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.

The top three increases in pork from fiscal 2004 to fiscal 2005 were: Homeland Security from $423 million to $1.72 billion (306 percent); Energy and Water from $714 million to $1.88 billion (163 percent); and Labor/HHS from $943 million to $1.7 billion (80 percent).

http://www.cagw.org/site/PageServer?pagename=reports_pigbook2005


Which ones top your list for cutting?

Maybe one of these?


Defense Budget

$5,000,000 for the Bayonne Military Ocean Terminal (BMOT). As part of the 1995 base closings, BMOT was finally closed on September 30, 1999. According to The Record, BMOT is now a port of call for Royal Caribbean cruise ships and has been used as a location for the film "A Beautiful Mind" and HBO’s "Oz." Additional plans call for retail, industrial, office, and residential space. The Record notes, "For now, Royal Caribbean has renovated, to the tune of $8 million, one of the old warehouse buildings at the tip of the pier. They've paved parking space for 600 cars, with the ability to expand to 1,600, and will have facilities for Customs and INS officials, along with bus and taxi areas."

$4,000,000 added in conference for the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System. According to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist’s (R-Tenn.) website, the money was earmarked to "help the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System plan for the additional 1,000 or more students that could be entering the Clarksville-Montgomery County schools this fall as a result of more than 850 soldiers and their families being reassigned to Fort Campbell." This would be more appropriate for the Department of Education than the Department of Defense.

$1,500,000 added by the House for the Allen Telescope Array at the University of California, Berkley. This telescope is part of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute (SETI). SETI’s website boasts about the telescope’s potential to help uncover extraterrestrial life and its strength as a radio telescope. The website fails to mention any defense-related mission, unless the telescope will alert us to an alien attack. It is no wonder that we have to look for intelligent life elsewhere after seeing how Congress spends our money. :rofl: