Pig Book

First Tee is an outfit that strives to help disadvantaged youths by teaching them golf.

Noble cause.

It's headed up by some heavy hitting corporate types who should be pretty good at raising money through charitible donations.

Instead, Uncle Sam is shelling out $3 million a year for golf lessons thanks to Rep James Clyburn (D-SC) who gave First Tee the cash in an earmark.

"You know, when you're at war, and you know you got a war on two fronts, the first thing you think of is golf, isn't it?" Leslie Paige, vice president of Citizens Against Government Waste.

It's just one of the examples of pork barrel spending highlighted in this year's Pig Book. Citizens Against Government Waste publishes the annual list of pork, They released the latest edition today. It came up with $17.2 billion in pork. (CBS)

Pork Map

Earmarkwatch.org lets you see where the pork's going in Congress' spending bills. You can actually see it on a map.

It also lets you contribute your own research or discovery of pork barrel spending. The Washington Post reports:

Three users of the site recently ran down an earmark for ICRC Solutions, an Alaska company that received $1 million for a Land and Sea Special Operations all-terrain vehicle known as a LASSO. In comments posted on the site, users said the company's chief executive is James Lexo, a former aide to Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) and a big campaign contributor.

And the Post found a million bucks spent on socks for Marines and another million for "Extended Cold Weather Clothing System" -- something the rest of us call "gloves." Bothe were going to Congress members who had factories in their districts or states landing the contracts.

Is a Public Restroom Among Larry Craig's Earmarks?

Senate Republican Leaders have taken a wide stance on Senator Larry Craig's (D-ID) pork barrel spending.

The Senator had promised to resign if he couldn't get his conviction for soliciting sex in an airport bathroom overturned.

The court upheld his conviction -- and the Senator decided to back out of his resignation -- and hang around Capitol Hill.

Taxpayers for Common Sense reports Senator Craig also has his name on about 84 earmarks -- 22 of those in his name alone.

Earmarks are special spending items -- slipped in for a pet project or a special interest.

Seven of those projects alone are worth more than $7 million.

His party's leadership could punish him by cutting off the pork. They haven't.

But you have to wonder -- are any of those pork barrel projects for a public restroom? (The Hill)

What Floats Your Boat

Congress spent $4.5 million dollars on an 85-foot speed boat that only makes one run a year -- and that's just to keep its engine in running order.

The Seattle Times reports that a U.S. Senator and two Representatives slipped the money for the boat into a defense spending bill for the Navy.

Problem is, the Navy never wanted the boat.

So they gave it to the University of Washington.

Which, it turned out, didn't want it either.

Who really wanted it?

Try Guardian Marine International -- a shipbuilder.

Turns out, Guardian had contributed $16,750 to Congressman Norm Dicks (D-WA), $14,277 to Congressman Brian Baird (D-WA), and $15,000 to Senator Patty Murray (D-WA).

And the three included earmarks in defense bills sending Guardian $17.65 million in government contracts for boats the Navy and Coast Guard never asked for and never wanted. (Seattle Times)

Armed Pork

A pair of Seattle reporters found about $11.8 billion in the last defense spending bill were for pet projects and special interests.

David Heath and Hal Bernton of the Seattle Times spent months collecting press releases and campaign finance reports, looking for connections between Congress members and pork barrel spending.

They were able to pin about half the 2,700 earmarks in the 2007 defense bill on specific politicians. (Seattle Times/HT: IRE)

Billion Dollar Relics

When the Air Force took delivery of its first KC-135 tanker, Sputnik hadn't flown, the Edsel was still on the drawing board, and "Gunsmoke" was the number one rated television show in America.

The Air Force wants to retire 85 of the old planes. It considers 52 of those "parked" -- unable to fly.

But some folks in Congress refuse to let the Air Force retire the planes -- forcing the military to pay millions to keep the rusting relics on the flightline for missions that will never come.

There are other restrictions on other aging aircraft -- so worn out, the Air Force is afraid to fly them.

But Congress members keep them on the books -- at billions of dollars billed to taxpayers -- so they can keep an air base open in their district -- or steer contracts toward companies that try to fix up the old planes.

In the case of repairing worn out C-5 Galaxies -- the bill might come to $11 billion dollars. (WaPo)

Shut Up and Take Your Airplanes

The Air Force is getting 10 spanking new C-17 cargo planes. Thing is, the Air Force doesn't want them.

But Congress has ordered the Air Force to take $2.4 billion of it's budget and buy the planes anyway.

The Air Force says it has plenty of the planes -- large, four-engine jets that can ferry men and equipment anywhere in the world.

But, part of the C-17 Globemaster III's are built in Texas. And the Texas delegation on Capitol Hill slipped a provision into a defense authorization bill to keep lobbyists and home state voters happy. The order would mean the Air Force would have to cut back on other things it needs or wants to order the extra planes. (Houston Chronicle)

Coconut Road, Alaska

Why would a Congressman from Alaska add money to a bill to build a road in Florida?

Could it be because the Florida developer who'll benefit from the road raised $40,000 for the Alaska Congressman?

The New York Times looked into the road and the campaign cash and found the connection.

Rep Don Young (R-AK) (pictured) -- who's best remembered for getting $200 million for a "bridge to nowhere" in his home state -- tacked the money for the road onto a spending bill.

Coconut Road (see map, courtesy New York Times) -- as it's called -- would connect five golf courses as it runs from I-75 to the Gulf Coast. Developer Daniel Aronoff has a stake in 4,000 acres along the proposed Coconut Road route.

And -- maybe it's just a conicidence -- but Mr Aronoff raised 40-grand for Rep Young at the nearby Hyatt Coconut Point just days before the idea was slipped into the spending bill. But then, there are very few coincidences in politics.

The county never wanted the road.

Well, not until Rep Young wrote them a nasty letter saying they'd better take the money for the road and get cracking on construction -- or they could lose a lot of federal money for projects they did want. (NYT)

Iraqi Pork

Congress may be divided over the Iraq War -- and Democrats may be at loggerheads with the President over it -- but bipartisanship continues when it comes to packing Iraq spending bills with Pork.

"These war supplemental bills have always had wasteful domestic spending added. The difference is only in magnitude." -- Brian M. Riedl, a budget analyst at the Heritage Foundation quoted in the Washington Post

President Bush criticizes it now. But the Washington Post reports, he and his party were big fans of tacking on pork in past war spending bills:

"But such spending has been part of Iraq funding bills since the war began, sometimes inserted by the president himself, sometimes added by lawmakers with bipartisan aplomb. A few of the items may have weighed on the votes for spending bills that have now topped half a trillion dollars, but, in almost all cases over the past four years, special-interest funding provisions have been the fruits of Congressional opportunism by well-placed senators or House members grabbing what they could for their constituents on the one bill that had to be passed quickly."

Last year, the President himself stuck in:

• $20 billion for hurricane recovery
• $2.3 billion for bird flu preps
• $2 billion for his immigration plan

Last year, Republicans in Congress added:

• $500 million for farm subsidies
• $118 million for the Gulf Coast fishing industry
• $700 million for a railroad in Mississippi

That's all pretty much the same story as this year:

• $120 million for Gulf fishermen
• $74 million for peanut storage in Georgia
• $25 million for California spinach farmers

The Post has more domestic spending items tacked on Iraq War bills going back even further. And it quotes Brian Riedl, a budget analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation as saying the pork is nothing new. (WaPo)

Congress Goes to War -- For Pork

Congress is set to do a little war profiteering. The bill to pay for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq includes $20 billion in pork. Among the pet projects for Congress members' home districts:

• $74 million for peanut storage in Georia
• $25 million for California spinach growers
• $100 million for citrus growers

There's another $16 million set aside for Congress members themselves. It'll help remodel the old FDA building into new office space. (Examiner.com)

Pig Book News Conference

Citizens Against Government Waste released their 2007 Pig Book highlighting pork barrel spending. Listen here to their news conference. About 34 minutes long.

The Year of the Pig

From a telescope that searches for space aliens to improving the shelf-life of vegetables -- the 109th Congress racked up $13.2 billion in pork barrel spending for this year -- the Chinese Year of the Pig.

Those numbers come from Citizens Against Government Waste in their annual "Pig Book" detailing pork projects. Those are special interest items slipped into the budget without debate.

Among the things CAGW found you're paying for:

• $1.35 million to study obesity in soldiers


• $1.65 million to research ways of extending vegetables' shelf lives


• $5.5 million to the Ernest Gallo Clinic & Research Center to study the effects of drugs and alcohol

Could've been worse than the $13.2 billion. Last year, CAGW found $29 billion in pork.

But the GOP controlled Congress only passed two of the 11 budget bills they were supposed to before their term ended in January. When Democrats took control, they slashed the remaining earmarks to get spending down. (Reuters)

Going by the Book

A pet project of the Bush administration requires schools to buy products from companies headed up by major Bush campaign donors.

The Education Department's Inspector General issued a report critical of the Reading First program. It's part of the No Child Left Behind Act.

The IG says the program violates the prohibition against the federal government telling schools what to teach. It promotes specific reading materials that benefit a select group of companies -- specifically McGraw Hill and Voyager. (CREW)

Billions Wasted in Iraq

Government auditors report at least $10 billion in US taxpayer dollars wasted or lost to fraud in Iraq.

The Government Accountability Office says the problem is poised to get worse as the Bush administration widens America's presence in Iraq.

The GAO, Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, and the Defense Contract Audit Agency all had people testifying before Congress.

They found sloppy record keeping and contractors overcharging taxpayers for their work.

Of the $10 billion in waste and fraud they found -- Halliburton Co. was responsible for at least $2.7 billion.

The government watchdogs told Congress that for every six dollars spent on rebuilding Iraq, at least one dollar is going toward waste and fraud. (USA Today)

Planes Dipped in Gold, and Covered in Caviar

The Daily Show takes on the missing 363-tons of money the US flew to Iraq.

If at First You Don't Succeed, Keep Throwing Money at It

President Bush wants to spend millions on an ad campaign that the government's own research has branded a failure.

The President wants $130 million -- a 31% increase -- for anti-drug commercials.

But a Government Accountability Office report on the ad campaign shows the ads have not reduced drug use -- and may have actually encouraged illegal drug use among teens.

The GAO reviewed and endorsed a private study's findings that exposure to the ads led to higher rates of first-time drug use.

Washington has spent more than $1.4 billion on the campaign since 1998.

This is your government spending. This is your government spending on drugs. (Politico.com)