Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 17, 1994 TAG: 9402170033
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Cox News Service
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
They were among the 97 "most egregious" projects listed in "1994 Congressional Pig Book Summary" issued Wednesday by Citizens Against Government Waste. Total cost of the 97 "pork barrel" projects: $1.2 billion.
"Just like this pig here, these projects are greedily gobbling up our tax dollars," said the advocacy group's president, Thomas Schatz, pointing to a black pig brought in from Woodbridge, Va., to snort and snuffle at a pile of dollars.
Rep. Tim Penny, D-Minn., said citizens have a responsibility to help end government waste.
"The American public needs to look in the mirror, because they can't demand a balanced budget on one hand and ask their members of Congress to bring home the bacon on the other hand," he said.
In its fourth annual booklet on pork barrel projects, the group gave its "King of the Road" award to Senate Appropriations Chairman Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., who persuaded his colleagues to send more than $200 million to his home state for extra road improvements. Byrd had no comment.
The "Delusions of Grandeur Award" went to the Arizona courthouse, which was sought by Sen. Dennis DeConcini, D-Ariz. Derided as the "Taj Mahal of justice," the facility will be "38,000 square feet larger than originally proposed and one-third larger than the 20-story Phoenix City Hall."
DeConcini's press secretary, Bob Maynes, responded, "What they somehow avoid is the fact that cost per square foot is comparable to courthouse costs across the country." He said DeConcini fought successfully against using a more expensive site or building an even larger courthouse.
"This appears to be an inside-the-Beltway `blue smoke and mirrors' effort to get publicity," Maynes charged.
The $11.5 million power plant modernization in the doomed shipyard won the "Fickle Finger of Foresight Award."
The "Academy Award" for "best score" by an elected official went to Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Fla., for a $3 million payment on the five-car Orlando (Fla.) Street Car Project, which Schatz said could cost taxpayers as much as $40 million by its completion in 2010.
The "War Is Not a Game Award" went to the $2 million in Defense Department money that was earmarked for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and the $6 million in defense funds set aside for this year's World Cup games.
"We don't know how that made it through," said David Williams, a research associate for Citizens Against Government Waste. "First of all, why is it in defense? Second of all, why are we spending money in 1994 for something that will happen in 1996?"
The group put "pork barrel" labels on spending that met one or more of the following criteria:
The money for the project was requested by only one chamber of Congress;
It was not specifically authorized;
It was not competitively awarded;
The money was not requested in the president's budget;
The amount greatly exceeds the president's budget request or the previous year's funding;
It was not the subject of a congressional hearing;
It serves only a local interest.
Although anti-waste group leaders said they were pleased with Clinton's budget proposal for the next fiscal year, they urged him to try to get Congress to undo some of its decisions for this year.
"He should submit a rescission package now to hold members of Congress responsible for their 1994 pork barrel projects," Schatz said. In a rescission request, a president seeks permission of Congress to leave appropriated money unspent.
by CNB