Archive » Pork

Just received an interesting press release and documents from Republicans on the House Oversight Committee about the porkulus earmark for park spending. Guess we could call it the parkulus provision. Business as usual:
WASHINGTON. D.C. – A report by House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Minority Staff contradicts assertions by the House Appropriations Committee that National [...]

Erick Erickson at RedState shines light on a $90 million set-aside in the “stimulus” for the left-wing Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, which is buried in the larger Boob Tube bailout for digital TV:
The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (”LCCR”) is a far left interest group.
The group opposed conservative judges. The group agitates for [...]

Dead again.

The good news is that conservative stalwart Sen. Tom Coburn is looking out for you.
The bad news is that Dingy Harry and the Dems have wasted no time wasting more of your money. One of the first orders of business of the 111th Congress will be to pass a massive omnibus lands bill. Sen. Coburn [...]

Money pit.

GOP Sen. Tom Coburn releases a new pork report this morning on “The Worst Waste of the Year.”

“As we look back on federal spending for 2008, American taxpayers will laugh, and then cry at how their elected officials spent their hard-earned dollars. Not even these tough economic times have dulled Congress’ ability to find new [...]

I’ve been writing about taxpayer-subsidized stadium boondoggles since I worked for the Seattle Times. The economic development rationale for pouring millions of tax dollars into sports palaces is bogus. These deals are brazen wealth redistribution schemes under the guise of “public interest” investment. Both Republicans and Democrats alike have supported the shakedowns. And now [...]

Alaska’s GOP corruptocrat has lost his Senate re-election bid.
Shouldn’t have taken so long. Not surprisingly, the entrenched, pork-stuffed politician refused to concede tonight:
Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska was defeated in his bid for re-election on Tuesday.
Mr. Stevens, a Republican and a 40-year incumbent, was trailing his Democratic challenger, Mayor Mark Begich of Anchorage, by 3,724 [...]

The GOP King of Pork has been found guilty on seven felony counts for making false statements in relation to his corruption probe.
Goodbye and good riddance.
As for the Senate seat left vacant and ripe for Democrat picking, I’m with Ed Morrissey:
…the Republicans deserve to lose it for not doing a better job of defeating Stevens [...]

Oink.

Bozos need a do-over.

$$$$$$$.

Earmark this.

Update 12/18 8:52am Eastern. Many readers asked me to check whether border fence-gutting provisions were included in the version of the bill passed last night. See here for the answer.
Update 12/18 8:00am Eastern. The Senate’s turn…
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The vote took place tonight, but the tango continues:
The House Monday approved a $516 billion measure funding 14 Cabinet agencies [...]

Oink. Update: The dissenters…(R) Allard, Burr, Brownback, Coburn, DeMint, Ensign, Enzi, Gregg, Kyl, Sessions, McConnell, Sununu; (D) Feingold, McCaskill.

What do they do? Keep swimming, swimming, swimming. Plus: Pelosi’s waterfront earmark.

Swimming in pork.

N.Z. Bear at The Victory Caucus has created a handy index to the key provisions in the Dems’ emergency supplemental bill so you can see all the pork for yourselves.
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Update: The Senate approves a troop withdrawal deadline.
Here’s the roll and more.
Austin Bay minces no words: “Veto it,” he writes. “Shame on Nebraska’s Senators Hagel [...]

Bumped to the top:
Update: Bush vows veto.
Update: Bill passes, 218-212 in the House. Here’s the roll call.
Update:
Rep. Mike Pence quips:
“Here are some examples of what the Democrats consider ‘urgent’ needs that require ‘prompt action: ‘
– $25 million for payments to spinach producers
– [...]

It’s true, according to Citizens Against Government Waste:
Tax money spent on small projects that only benefit one congressional district or region are often slipped into legislation at the 11th hour — a time-worn and much criticized part of Congress known as pork-barrel spending.
Each year the Citizens Against Government Waste exposes that pork in its annual [...]

I’ve got a fun game for all of us to play, the object of which is to make the worst of the Congressional appropriators pee their pants…err, get really nervous (because I couldn’t think of a more Congressionally-appropriate figure of speech). Are you in?
All right. Here’s how it goes. This is what the pork from [...]

Buy a Porkbusters mug: Annoy Trent Lott!

The blogosphere’s movement to cut government spending is getting under one Republican US Senator’s skin.
Trent Lott is squealing, and Porkbusters are busting him good.

Kudos to the NY Daily News for its investigative series, launched Sunday, on how billions in 9/11 funds have been misspent (hat tip: BizzyBlog):
…a four-month Daily News investigation of the $21.4 billion disaster recovery package reveals that major elements of the aid process were procedurally flawed — from the determination of how much money was [...]

Support Tom Coburn’s offset package.
Keep track of the lard here.
Brought to you by Glenn Reynolds, N.Z. Bear, and the anti-pork brigades of the blogosphere.
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Previous:
Sen. Tom Coburn fights for fiscal conservatism
Pork-busting progress
Don Young: Hog wild!
Cut out the fat!

Just received from my favorite Senator’s office:
Dr. Coburn to Hold Hearing Examining Congress’ Efforts to Escape its Constitutional Boundaries
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, chairman of the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, will chair a hearing Tuesday, October 25 at 2:30 p.m. entitled “Guns and Butter: Setting Priorities in Federal Spending in the [...]

***updated…first ever House Republican blog meeting scheduled***
Looks like the Porkbusters blog campaign spearheaded by Glenn Reynolds and N.Z. Bear is having an effect. Kudos.

Jon Henke has good analysis of the need for structural reform.
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335pmEDT Just got this in the mail for a blog event with House Republicans on the 20th:

Blog Advisory
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
~ Blog from [...]

Pork Jerky, Alaska-style
Glenn Reynolds, N.Z. Bear and the rest of the pork-busting blogosphere are doing a fabulous job shedding light on all the dripping fat in Washington. I think Alaska GOP Rep. Don Young deserves a targeted blog pressure campaign all his own.
Via the liberal website Think Progress, Young continues to squeal about bipartisan [...]

Some of you longtime readers may remember that way back in 2000 I had a website (a pre-blog, if you will) called Porkwatch dedicated to blowing the whistle on the forced redistribution of public dollars to targeted special interests.
So, I love this new blogger initiative from Glenn Reynolds and N.Z. Bear to find money for [...]

Well, well, well. It took George Soros for hypocritical Republican politicians to finally oppose tax-subsidized sports stadiums and antitrust exemptions for baseball.
Mark this down as a milestone moment when I side with the likes of Soros and Democrat Rep. George Miller, who asks:
Why should politics have anything to do with who owns the team…So Congress [...]