There's Always Room for Pork

Freddoso, David

You may never swim in the new pool they're building in Salinas, Calif., or watch the Arctic Winter Games in Alaska. You may not even know what an "Intermodal Transload Facility" is, let alone why they need one in Quincy, Wash.

But if you pay taxes, you're going to pay for all of these things, and hundreds of other pork-barrel projects throughout the United States.

In a year when the projected deficit exceeds $500 billion, lawmakers still found plenty of room for parochial spending items. This year's omnibus spending bill (H.R. 2673), passed last week by the House, contains more than a thousand pork projects-many more than we could fit on this page even if we printed them in agate type. When all this year's spending bills are taken into account, the federal government will spend more than $20,000 per household.

Here are just a few of the plum prizes lifted from the text of the bill:

$15,000 Pines of Peace, Inc., Ontario, N.Y.

$16,000 National Distance Running Hall of Fame, Utica, NY,

$50,000 Canal Museum, Easton, Pa.

$50,000 Sistas and Brothas United, a North, Bronx youth group.

$75,000 Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, Washington, D.C.

$75,000 North Pole Transit System JARC Program, Alaska.

$80,000 Hot Springs Bike Trail, Ark.

$90,000 Olive fruit fly research in France.

$90,000 To research emissions from livestock wastewater in Florence, S.C.

$90,000 Wheat fungus research, Manhattan, Kan.

$100,000 San Fernando Valley, Calif., intergenerational daycare center

$100,000 Kids Rock Free educational program, Corona, Calif.

$100,000 Renovation of the historic Coca-Cola building in Macon, Ga.

$100,000 The Museum of America and the Sea, Mystic, Conn.

$100,000 "Servicing our Youth."

$110,000 Construction of a dental clinic in Bassfield, Miss.

$113,000 "The Healing Place," Louisville, Ky.

$150,000 Rock School, Philadelphia.

$150,000 Traffic light, Briarcliff Manor Union Free School District, N.Y.

$150,000 Regional Youth Baseball Complex Lancaster, Calif.

$150,000 Renovation off Farmers market, Dallas.

$175,000 Blackbird control in Kansas.

$175,000 City of Cape Girardeau, Mo., flood wall mural.

$175,000 Therapeutic Horsemanship center, Gettysburg, Pa.

$180,000 Seafood waste research, Fairbanks, Alaska.

$200,000 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Cleveland, Ohio.

$200,000 Renovation of First National Bank Building, Greenfield, Mass.

$200,000 Chaldean Community Culture Center, West Bloomfield, Mich.

$210,000 Town of Thomaston, Maine, for construction of a sidewalk

$250,000 Walter Clore Wine and Culinary Center in Presser, Wash.

$250,000 Call Me Mister program, Clemson University.

$250,000 Feasibility study for a Suffolk, Va., Workforce Development Center

$250,000 Theater construction, Studio for the Arts, Pocahontas, Ark.

$250,000 Museum of Broadcast Communications, Chicago, Ill.

$250,000 Preventing youth smoking in Alaska.

$270,000 Potato storage in Madison, Wis.

$270,000 "Sustainable olive production," Weslaco, Tex.

$270,000 U.S. Vegetable Lab, Charleston, S.C.

$275,000 Refurbishment of the Coach George E. Ford Center, Powder Springs, Ga.

$315,000 Formosan Subterranean Termite research.

$325,000 Construction of a swimming pool in Salinas, Calif.

$350,000 Construction for a folk cultural center in Pinellas County, Fla.

$350,000 Houston, Texas, Childhood Obesity Project.

$400,000 "The Speed Art Museum," Louisville, Ky.

$400,000 Walla Walla Public Schools, Walla Walla, Wash.

$400,000 Davenport Music History Museum, Davenport, Iowa

$450,000 Johnny Appleseed Heritage Center, Inc., Ashland County, Ohio.

$450,000 Trout Genome Mapping.

$500,000 Henderson, Nev., "Inclusion Recreation Program."

$500,000 Obesity Prevention and Control program, Alaska.

$500,000 New England Amer-I-Can Program.

$500,000 Traffic Signal Replacement Program, New Rochelle, N.Y.

$500,000 Bike path, St. Petersburg, Fla.

$500,000 LOVE Social Services, Fairbanks, Alaska.

$725,000 "Please Touch Museum," Philadelphia.

$750,000 "Intelligent Transportation Systems," Wichita Transit Authority.

$800,000 West Palm Beach Trolley Buses, Fla.

$900,000 Burpee Museum of Natural History, Rockford, Ill., for "community outreach and educational activities."

$900,000 Kincaid Park Trail Connection, Alaska.

$1,000,000 Rep. Hal Rogers Parkway, Ky.

$1,000,000 Ship Creek Improvements, Alaska.

$1,000,000 WestStart Vehicular Flywheel Project, Washington.

$1,200,000 Construction of a main sewer transmission line along U.S. 17, Ravenel, S.C.

$1,250,000 U.S. 2, Dover Bridge, Bonner County, Idaho.

$1,500,000 Arctic Winter Games, buses and bus facilities in Alaska.

$1,800,000 Appalachian fruit laboratory in Kearneysville, W.Va.

$1,800,000 2003 Women's World Cup.

$2,000,000 "First Tee" youth golf Program in St. Augustine, Fla.

$2,000,000 Intermodal Transload Facility, Quincy, Wash.

$2,000,000 Parents Anonymous.

$2,000,000 Tools for Tolerance program, Calif.

$3,000,000 US 12 Widening, Wallula Junction to Walla Walla, Wash.

$5,000,000 Kennedy Center Potomac River Pedestrian and Bike Path.

$6,000,000 Treasure Island Bridge.

$12,400,000To convert waste from chicken-processing factories in Missouri.

$50,000,000To build a $200 million indoor exhibit about the rainforest.

Leadership Has Its Privileges

Here are a few of the items we found in the omnibus spending bill earmarked for the districts of House leaders.

House Speaker

Dennis Hasten

(R.-III.)

$523,000 for St. Charles, III., Police Department, for law enforcement technologies.

$3,200,000 Association for Individual Development, Aurora, III.

$4,000,000 Provena Mercy Center, Aurora, III.

$700,000 DeKalb, III., for building rehabilitation, streetscape improvements and beautification on East Lincoln Highway.

House Majority Leader

Tom Delay

(R.-Tex.)

$6,000,000 State Highway 332 at Brazos River, Brazoria County, Texas.

$1,000,000 Greater Harris County Texas, for in-car police technologies.

$500,000 Brazos River Authority for water infrastructure improvements in West Fort Bend County, Texas.

$3,600,000 Sugar Land regional airport expansion.

House Minority Leader

Nancy Pelosi

(D.-Calif.)

$100,000 International Museum of Women, San Francisco.

$500,000 Grant for the Women's Initiative for Self Employment in San Francisco.

$9,000,000 San Francisco, Calif., Muni Third Street Light Rail Project.

$4,000,000 KIPP Foundation, San Francisco, Calif. for KIPP School Leadership Program.

House Minority Whip

Steny Hoyer

(D.-Md.)

$150,000 for Charles County, Md. for the La Plata Community Center.

$1,000,000 Real Time Transit Passenger Information System for the Prince George's County Dept. of Public Works, Md.

$200,000 St. Mary's College, Md. for the River and Lands Institute.

Copyright Human Events Publishing, Inc. Dec 15, 2003
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved