Pork Advisory System

Pulling a page from the Dept. of Homeland Security, the humorous (though outraged) bean counters over at Citizens Against Government Waste have created a Pork Advistory System. The current rating is SEVERE, meaning Congress is in session. Writes CAGW:

Now being negotiated in conference, the $820 billion 2004 omnibus spending package merges seven unfinished appropriations bills. Following the $400 billion Medicare bill and the $33 billion energy bill, the omnibus could deliver the knockout punch to taxpayers in the final round of one of the most spendthrift sessions in legislative history.

More info here.

Comments

[thoreau]

I wonder if the GOP will at some point announce to the country that if voters want pork they must vote for the GOP. As long as the GOP has control of at least one house of Congress, whichever appropriations committee they control (or both appropriations committees) will only pass pork requested by Republican Senators and Representatives.

It would put Democrats in an awful bind: They can advertise themselves as the party of no pork, or they can ask us to vote out the GOP majority so that the pork flows again.

Billing themselves as the party of no pork probably wouldn't work, because electing a Dem would simply mean that tax dollars would flow to people in other states or districts. It wouldn't actually save you any money. And even if you voted out the GOP majority, as long as the Democrats are promising an even distribution of pork they're basically promising you less pork than you'd get with a GOP Representative or Senator, who can give you a better deal by denying pork to Democratic Representatives and Senators.

Somebody should pitch this to Tom DeLay and Karl Rove.

[joe]

The amazing thing is, this is the porkiest Congress in history. And I'm not just referring to overall spending levels, but money spent specifically on earmarks for local projects. What makes this especially significant is that the Republican leadership is severely gutting the pork of Democrats, in contrast to the tradition under Democratic leadership, when the pork was spread around pretty evenly. Meaning the amount of pork each GOPer brings home is through the roof.