Congressman John Campbell's Blog - Green Eyeshade Blog

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

The Unveiling of the 2008 CAGW Congressional Pigbook

Posted by: John Campbell at 1:00 PM

This morning I joined Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) in announcing the release of the 2008 Congressional Pig Book. CAGW has been releasing the Pigbook as an expos of the wasteful pork-barrel spending in Washington for the past 18 years.

For FY 2008, CAGW found that the porkers in Congress stuffed 11,610 separate pork projects into the 12 appropriations bills. This marks the second highest total ever of pork projects, totaling $17.2 billion. That is a 337% increase over the 2,658 projects in fiscal year 2007, and a 30 percent increase over the $13.2 billion total in fiscal year 2007. Out of the 11,610 projects in the 2008 Pig Book there were 11,146 disclosed projects worth $13.8 billion and 464 undisclosed projects worth $3.4 billion.

The CAGW Pigbook highlights many of the earmarks of which I have called to question on the floor of the house including Chairman Charlie Rangel’s infamous “Monument to Me”.

Some other egregious examples include:

$3 million for The First Tee;
$1,950,000 for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service;
$460,752 for hops research;
$211,509 for olive fruit fly research in Paris, France;
$196,000 for the renovation and transformation of the historic Post Office in Las Vegas;
$188,000 for the Lobster Institute in Maine; and
$148,950 for the Montana Sheep Institute.

You can find a PDF copy of the 2008 Pigbook here, or at my website. www.campbell.house.gov

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pic82101 writes:	Wednesday, April, 02, 2008 4:51 PM
This is Ridiculous
Keep up the good fight, Congressman. http://www.gopcatholics.blogspot.com
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Con4fred writes:	Wednesday, April, 02, 2008 6:27 PM
I hate items like this
My state of NC has it's very own pork barrel. One of my favs is.... $250,000 for a Tea Pot Museum. No, I'm not kidding! This museum will be built for someones very own personal collection. Who the hell collects Tea Pots?
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Mr M Coupe writes:	Thursday, April, 03, 2008 9:40 PM
More pork, where do I sign up?
If Congress wants to keep spending money drunken sailors, I just want to know where to sign up. I feel so left out. My some small business is taking a beating. Who do I contact to get my share of the pork?
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abugbabe writes:	Friday, April, 04, 2008 1:07 AM
Laughed at my Congressman
Money for shrimp aquaculture in metro Phoenix. We're known for our glorious fresh seafood - and water. LOL. I wonder where the trade-off is. Keep up the good fight.
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Ikester writes:	Friday, April, 04, 2008 9:00 AM
Great Article
Senator, Thank you for being our junk yard dog in Washington. It would stagger the minds of the American public to see the total wastefulness of our congress and government. Please do something about the borrowing of money from the Social Security coffers. This money should be paid back asap. Thank you.
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About John Campbell

John Campbell is a member of the House Financial Services Committee, and has taken a leadership role in addressing the country's top economic issues. Campbell serves as a member of the Joint Economic Committee, and House Committee on the Budget. He has a Bachelor's Degree in Economics from UCLA and a Master's Degree in Taxation from USC.