Find the Pork
all the bills considered by congress and signed into law by the president are online.
I believe the government is hugely wasteful in its spending. 'pork' is a common term for adding unrelated pet projects to large spending bills. I want to see some of this in action, so I'm trolling the congressional record for examples.
the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008 contains the following suspicious entries:
"1. PERIODIC CENSUSES AND PROGRAMS
For necessary expenses to collect and publish statistics for periodic censuses and programs provided for by law, $1,027,406,000, to remain available until September 30, 2009: Provided, That none of the funds provided in this or any other Act for any fiscal year may be used for the collection of census data on race identification that does not include `some other race' as a category."
A Billion Dollars to fund census programs? Seems like an awful lot. Could be justifiable. Pork scale: 1 of 3 pigs.
"OUTREACH FOR SOCIALLY DISADVANTAGED FARMERS
For grants and contracts pursuant to section 2501 of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 2279), $6,440,000, to remain available until expended."
6 million for the socially disadvantaged? i fall into that category. Pork scale: 1 of 3 pigs (could go up once i read about that Food act)
"General Provisions--Department of Transportation
(b) Prohibition-
(1) IN GENERAL- None of the funds made available by this Act shall be used to consider or approve an application to permit the imposition or collection of any toll on any portion of a Federal highway facility in the State of Texas--"
Texans got themselves a nice little anti-highway-toll bit.
"Federal Transit Administration
CAPITAL INVESTMENT GRANTS
For necessary expenses to carry out section 5309 of title 49, United States Code, $1,569,091,997, to remain available until expended: Provided, That of the funds available under this heading, amounts are to be made available as follows:
...
I-205/Portland Mall Light Rail, Oregon, $78,400,000.
..."
woot!
after scanning 30 or so more pages, my eyes glaze over.
the pork remains elusive.
I believe the government is hugely wasteful in its spending. 'pork' is a common term for adding unrelated pet projects to large spending bills. I want to see some of this in action, so I'm trolling the congressional record for examples.
the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008 contains the following suspicious entries:
"1. PERIODIC CENSUSES AND PROGRAMS
For necessary expenses to collect and publish statistics for periodic censuses and programs provided for by law, $1,027,406,000, to remain available until September 30, 2009: Provided, That none of the funds provided in this or any other Act for any fiscal year may be used for the collection of census data on race identification that does not include `some other race' as a category."
A Billion Dollars to fund census programs? Seems like an awful lot. Could be justifiable. Pork scale: 1 of 3 pigs.
"OUTREACH FOR SOCIALLY DISADVANTAGED FARMERS
For grants and contracts pursuant to section 2501 of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 2279), $6,440,000, to remain available until expended."
6 million for the socially disadvantaged? i fall into that category. Pork scale: 1 of 3 pigs (could go up once i read about that Food act)
"General Provisions--Department of Transportation
(b) Prohibition-
(1) IN GENERAL- None of the funds made available by this Act shall be used to consider or approve an application to permit the imposition or collection of any toll on any portion of a Federal highway facility in the State of Texas--"
Texans got themselves a nice little anti-highway-toll bit.
"Federal Transit Administration
CAPITAL INVESTMENT GRANTS
For necessary expenses to carry out section 5309 of title 49, United States Code, $1,569,091,997, to remain available until expended: Provided, That of the funds available under this heading, amounts are to be made available as follows:
...
I-205/Portland Mall Light Rail, Oregon, $78,400,000.
..."
woot!
after scanning 30 or so more pages, my eyes glaze over.
the pork remains elusive.