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*---------------------------------------------------------------------------* * -1992 Congressional Pig Book !- | *----> F L A S H ! | * CAGW: Citizens Against Government Waste | *----> F L A S H ! 1301 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 400 | * Washington, D.C. 20036 | *----> F L A S H ! Call 1-800-BE-ANGRY, 8-6 Eastern Time | * | * 7/11/92-Upload by: James P. Leonard 408-236-3706 | *---------------------------------------------------------------------------* * "If you forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can * * never regain their respect and esteem." .... Abraham Lincoln * *---------------------------------------------------------------------------* Following are -excerpts- from the Document entitled "1992 Congressional Pig Book Summary" - "the national campaign to repeal Congress' obscene pork-barrel spending." The Summary is a compilation of examples of wasteful spending in the 1992 Congressional Appropriations Bills that went through OUR Congress. *---------------------------------------------------------------------------* The Full Summary can be obtained by contacting CAGW at the 1-800 number listed above. That's 1-800-BE ANGRY. *---------------------------------------------------------------------------* The excerpts written herein, are used with the implied consent of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste, Washington, D.C. Please include acknowledgement of their work, by citing their name whenever you quote, copy or otherwise distribute material from these excerpts or from the original "1992 Congressional Pig Book Summary." The Citizens Against Government Waste has approx. 500,000 members. Since July 1, 1991, the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste have established more than 275 Chapters in 48 States, under the banner of the Taxpayer's Action Network (TAN). GET INVOLVED! 1-800-BE ANGRY. *---------------------------------------------------------------------------* Explanation of the Term "PORK BARREL" "Pork Barrel spending includes programs which serve no national interest, such as roads which go virtually nowhere, 'scientific studies' which yield no practical data, or acquisition of property and construction of projects which benefit a limited number of people or special interests." THE 1992 "PORK KING" TITLE "This year's 'Pork King' title goes to Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV). Byrd used his position as chairman of the Appropriations Committee to funnel $510.8 million in special projects and earmarks to his home state of West Virginia." WHERE DOES ALL THE MONEY COME FROM ANYWAY ? "The government has no money except that which WE taxpayers earn and give to it or which it borrows, on which WE pay the interest. But Congress is continuing to squander our resources and bankrupt the nation, so WE are left holding the bag. Read this summary of 1992 wasteful spending. Contact your Senators and Representatives -- either by phone or mail -- and demand an explanation. It's time we hold our elected representatives accountable for how THEY spend OUR money !" COMMERCE, JUSTICE AND STATE: "$2 million added in conference by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) for a New York Bight Center for undersea research." "$1.7 million for Pacific Tuna Management in the Fisheries Management Programs and $250,000 for information collection and analysis on Hawaiian Sea Turtles;both requests made by Sen. Daniel Inouye(D-HI)." "$1 million added in conference by Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) for the construction of an Alaska Fisheries Center." "$300,000 added by conferees to promote innovative post-secondary education and research in the field of seafood business management, Center for Marine Development and Research, Kingsborough Community College, New York." "150,000 for a recyclable fishing nets study." DEFENSE "The 1992 Defense Appropriations bill contains over $6 Billion in unauthorized spending in violation of the law which states that 'no funds may be appropriated for any fiscal year to, or for, the use of any armed force, or obligated or expended unless funds therefore have been specifically authorized by law.' The bill also includes $114 million earmarked for university grants which have been non-competitively awarded. Several examples: 1) $25 million for an 'Artic region supercomputer,' courtesy of ranking minority member of the Senate Appropriations Defense subcommittee, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK), as part of a controversial and so far unsuccessful effort by the University of Alaska to trap energy from aurora borealis. 2) $10 million earmarked for an unauthorized grant to Marywood College in Scranton, Pennsylvania to study military stress on families, thanks to Rep. Joseph McDade (R-PA). This small Roman Catholic School, run by nuns of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, has an enrollment of nearly 3,000. The $10 million grant is roughly one-third of the school's budget. The awarding of this $10 million study to Marywood has baffled even the grant recipients. 3) $600,000 added in conference to establish two Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Treatment Center Demonstration Projects, one to be located in the State of Hawaii and one in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. The treatment disorder centers are directed to study the effects of war on active duty, guard, and reserve personnel, and their families. According to the report language, "one center shall be located in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, which has suffered more (wartime) casualties than any other community in the United States. The other center shall be located in the State of Hawaii." The reason for the center in Hawaii is unclear -- other than the presence of Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI), Chairman of the Defense Appropriations Committee. This funding comes in addition to $7.4 million included in the 1991 Veteran's Compensation Rate amendments for specialized stress disorder centers and health care staff." DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA "$1.5 million directed under Capital Outlays to "secure, from current owners, access, rights of way, easements or title to lands not now in public ownership for a proposed bicycle and pedestrian pathway known as the Metropolitan Branch Trail." FOREIGN OPERATIONS "$7 million earmarked in the House bill for African elephant conservation. At press time, the Senate had not yet taken up the foreign aid bill, which is running on a continuing resolution." INTERIOR 1) "$6 million directed out of the National Park Service budget to be used for construction of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. Established in 1955, the FDR Commission was charged with building a memorial for our 32nd President. Despite the fact that FDR said he wanted a memorial no larger than his desk, the Commission has planned, and Congress has authorized, a $47 million, 9-acre garden plaza in downtown Washington. Controversy over the design and architectural plans has kept construction in limbo, until September 1991 when ground was finally broken. Federal funds have flowed steadily into the Commission fund since its inception (1955). In years when funding was lower than anticipated, the Commission managed to raise private funds. Dedication is scheduled for 1995." 2) "$5 million for 1992 activities related to the Salmon Summit which was convened in 1990 by Sen. Mark Hatfield (R-OR) to formulate a plan to keep the National Marine and Fisheries Service from listing the salmon on its endangered species list. The summit consisted of representatives from business, utility, and other industries; Indian Tribes; environmentalists; and other groups. The four states at the summit were Oregon, Idaho, Washington and Montana. The summit failed to produce a long term solution for salmon recovery which was amenable to all parties. Governors then turned to the Northwest Planning Council, which was able to develop and submit an acceptable plan in December 1991." 3) "$2.7 million appropriated for the Abraham Lincoln Research and Interpretive Center in Springfield, Illinois, courtesy of Rep. Richard Durbin (D-IL). This project has not been authorized, could run as high as $60 million, and is duplicative of a visitors center, which already exists at the Lincoln National Historic Site." LABOR/HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES "$80 million added in conference to the Labor/HHS bill for Low Income Energy Assistance Programs. These funds were designated for 'congressional emergencies.' Research done by CCAGW staff, found that this money was not going to be used for 'emergencies' at all, but was added to the bill & labeled 'emergency' so as to avoid Congressional Budget Office (CBO) scoring rules. According to Labor/HHS staff, the committee exceeded its budget by $80 million. In order to avoid any spending cuts, the committee used the emergency designation of funds as a 'gimmick to avoid CBO scoring rules.' Funds that are labeled 'emergency' are taken off-budget and do not count toward the funding totals for the committee." LEGISLATIVE BRANCH "$1,000,000 for a pilot test, evaluation, and a survey of a Capitol complex energy-efficient lighting retrofit." "$846,000 to renovate Senate Committee hearing rooms." "$350,000 for House Committee room lighting." "$275,000 to improve lawn care, purchase trash cans, and provide benches on the U.S. Capitol Grounds." "$205,000 for shutters and lighting in Capitol buildings." "$75,000 for Senate Committee calendars." MILITARY CONSTRUCTION "The 1992 Military Construction Appropriations bill contained $33.9 million for construction/improvements to military physical fitness centers and $42.8 million for the construction of, or additions to child development centers. Here is where some of that money went: $7 million to upgrade a physical fitness center at Fort Richardson, Alaska, requested by Senate appropriator Ted Stevens (R-AK). $3.3 million for additions to a child development center at Travis Air Force Base, located in the district of appropriator Vic Fazio (D-CA). $4.4 million to alter/add a physical fitness center at Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota, home state of Senate appropriator Quentin Burdick (D-ND). $3.9 million for physical fitness center for the Aberdeen Proving Ground located in the home state of appropriator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)." TRANSPORTATION "The 1992 Transportation Appropriations bill contains 105 highway demonstration projects totalling $516,726,000. These projects are unauthorized, were non-competitively awarded, and have never been the subject of congressional hearings. Here is a sampling of 1992 highway projects: 1) $148.5 million, or 29 per cent of total pork-barrel highway spending, included by Sen. Robert Byrd for a Corridor G highway iprovement project to 'demonstrate methods of eliminating traffic congestion and to promote economic benefits' for West Virginia. He also got $9.84 million for a highway demonstration construction project for an earlier Byrd trophy, a $185 million FBI complex in Harrison County, West Virginia. Sen. Byrd managed to put West Virginia at the top of the list of states getting federal earmarks. 2) $2.5 million included in the bill to construct bikepaths in the very affluent community of North Miami Beach, home of appropiator Rep. William Lehman (D-FL). 3) $2 million under highway research, development and technology to conduct truck driver fatique research. 4) $800,000 added by Sen. Quentin Burdick (D-ND) for highway beautification in Grand Forks, North Dakota." AGRICULTURE The following cooperative/special research grants have been awarded non-competitively: 1) $94,000 Asparagus yield decline 2) $210,000 Beef carcass evaluation and identification, IA, GA, NY, TX, IL 3) $340,000 Fish marketing, OR, RI 4) $296,000 Floriculture, HI 5) $1,942,000 Food Consortium, AR, KS, IA 6) $393,000 Food marketing policy center, CT 7) $50,000 Food processing center 8) $50,000 Forestry marketing, VT, NH 9) $75,000 Grasshopper biocontrol, ND 10) $100,000 Mesquito and prickly pear research, TX 11) $200,000 Oil from Jojoba, NM 12) $1,435,000 Potato research, GA 13) $172,000 Poultry research, GA 14) $412,000 Regional barley gene-mapping project 15) $412,000 Regionalized implication of farm programs, MO 16) $99,000 Sandhills Grazing Management Practices, NE 17) $361,000 Seafood harvesting processing and marketing, MS 18) $141,000 Swine research, MN 19) $300,000 Wheat marketing, OR 20) $55,000 White mold research, MN *---------------------------------------------------------------------------* Uploader's Notes: The preceding material only contained brief excerpts taken from the "1992 Congressional Pig Book Summary", published by the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste, Washington, D.C. Please direct inquiries reagarding this material to 1-800 BE ANGRY. The Uploader, James P. Leonard, does not assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy or validity of the material contained, herein, nor liability for any actions that may arise from the general distribution and circulation of this material to other Americans. *-------- + --------* See Next Page... Below are my own thoughts and suggestions for what you can do to help all of us protect our nation from misappropriation of OUR money and OUR nation's resources, by the hands of those WE elect to office to REPRESENT the Will of the People. <grin> That's you and me! - TEN EASY WAYS TO HELP US ALL "JUST GET ALONG" BETTER - Ask your representatives exactly who received those 'non-competitive' 1) research grants and why ? Ask them if they were opened 'for public bidding' or just handed over to a select, interested few. Ask your representatives to provide you with -complete- details of 2) their Voting Records and to explain to you, in detail, the basis and the factors they consider, when making their voting decisions. 3) You may also want to ask them exactly how many days they were absent from their seats when votes were taking place, this last year. 4) Ask them what is "On-Budget" and exactly how much money is "Off-Budget", and where does THAT money go. Go to the library and conduct research ! Use manual or On-Line 5) Periodical Research Computers to scan National Newspaper & Magazine Indexes. Type in the names of OUR representatives and get to know them better ! COMMUNICATE! With your family, your friends, your NEIGHBORS. Talk 6) about local and national events. Make time to go to City Council meetings and LOOK AT HOW OUR MONEY IS SPENT. PARTICIPATE! Register to vote! If you aren't 100% sure about your 7) political party - meet the volunteers from all the parties and ask questions, before you decide! Bring a list of concerns with you. State & Regional Planning Boards, Meetings and Conferences. If you 8) can't attend, make contact with people who do! Find out WHO is planning to SPEND OUR MONEY and FOR WHAT! Conduct local surveys to discover how YOU and your NEIGHBORS want OUR money to be spent. REMEMBER. OUR representatives are going to keep spending OUR money and borrowing MORE of it. Sitting at home crying about it or trying 9) to ignore it by watching television or playing cards isn't going to make it go away or get better. They LOVE IT when we lay down and give up quietly, like sheep. They HATE IT when we jump up and SPEAK OUT! Imagine if you will, where we would be today if great Americans, like 10) Ben Franklin, George Washington, and Paul Revere, just sat around complaining without taking action against the Crown. - Oooops! I just thought of two more, for a total of Twelve - 11) The "Minute Men" were outnumbered by the Redcoats, but that didn't stop them from going out and fighting for what they believed in. Compared to the hardships they faced in those early days, what in 12) the world could possibly keep US from going out and fighting for OUR liberty and our freedom ? *-----please distribute at will to your local BBS----The End, for now...-* Gee, it only took me 14 hours, 36 minutes to compile this data. Zzzzz.