Fire this up: The Republican pork barrel (Boston Globe 2005)

[JRob]

I'm disgusted by Bush the GOP talking points on "pork" in the current funding bills. The links below deal with just one (yes 1) piece of legislation from our recent republican controlled congress:

The Republican pork barrel
By Jeff Jacoby, Globe Columnist | August 4, 2005

AT $286.4 BILLION, the highway bill just passed by Congress is the most expensive public works legislation in US history. In addition to funding the interstate highway system and other federal transportation programs, it sets a new record for pork-barrel spending, earmarking $24 billion for a staggering 6,376 pet projects, spread among virtually every congressional district in the land. The enormous bill -- 1,752 pages long -- wasn't made public until just before it was brought to a vote, and so, as The New York Times noted, ''it is safe to bet that none of the lawmakers, not even the main authors, had read the entire package."

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/08/04/the_republican_pork_barrel/

Taxpayer for Common Sense - A Non-Partisan Budget Watchdog
Database of Earmarks in Conference Agreement to the Transportation Bill
State by State Comparison
Updated August 12, 2005 (12:30pm)

http://www.taxpayer.net/Transportation/safetealu/states.htm