Citizens Against Government Waste is out with its annual "Pig Book." This is a list of lawmakers whom the group considers the nation's most prolific porkers. Sadly, two of the top five "porkers" in the Senate are Republicans. The top five Senate list is: Thad Cochran(R), Dan Inouye(D), Roger Wicker(R), Robert Byrd(D) and Tom Harkin(D). The top "porkers" in the House of Representatives are Hawaii Democratic Reps. Neil Abercrombie and Mazie Hirono. You would think living in the paradise of Hawaii would be it's own reward, but Hawaii was second on the list of earmarks on a per capita basis. Alaska was number one. To her credit, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has tried to refuse some federal money, but her State Legislator and Democrats are up in arms. Here is the story from Foxnews.com.
Lawmakers asked for nearly $20 billion in earmarks or "pork-barrel projects" in their homes states in 2009, a nearly 15 percent increase in funding from last year, according to a prominent taxpayer interest group.
At a press conference Tuesday featuring both costumed and live mascots, including two Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) released their annual Pig Book, detailing the thousands of special projects lawmakers requested for 2009.
"Despite repeated claims by members of Congress that earmarks have been reduced, the Pig Book belies that claim," said CAGW President Tom Schatz, who noted that this year's spending bill also included 221 anonymous earmarks amounting to $7.8 billion of the spending that no lawmakers took credit for.
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