NEW DEFENSE SPENDING BILL FULL OF PORK -- SOME TO THE POINT

OF BEING RIDICULOUS -- LIKE BREATHALYZERS AND LEWIS & CLARK

EXPEDITION CELEBRATIONS

Now we know why Defense costs so much...they toss everything else into the legislation.

At least there weren't any $43 bazillion toilet seats!

Story here... http://www.hillnews.com/thehill/export/TheHill/Business/010406_earmarks.html

Quote of note:  Budget watchdogs warn that the 2006 defense appropriations bill includes more earmarks for questionable projects than ever before.

Several watchdogs argue that the bill is peppered with millions of dollars for museums and national parks, as well as natural resources and roads, projects that at least on the surface, appear to have little to do with military operations.

The 2005 defense appropriations bill contained a record 2,671 parochial and politically motivated earmarks worth $12.2 billion, and the 2006 spending bill is set to surpass that, according to Keith Ashdown, vice president of policy at Taxpayers for Common Sense.

Another quote of note:  The bill dedicates $3.4 million for Lewis and Clark bicentennial activities. Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), a member of the Senate appropriations panel, initially requested the funding, according to a spokesman, who noted that the money benefits several states, although the majority of the bicentennial program takes place in Montana. The spokesman also explained that $1.8 million goes to personnel working on the program and $1.6 million is devoted to the operation of the program.

Another quote of note:  Under the Army Operations and Maintenance Budget section of the bill, $900,000 is allocated for an item called “Memorial Day” with no other explanation.

“Somebody is going to have a good Memorial Day,” Wheeler quipped.

Some $3.4 million of that section of the budget also is allocated for Breathalyzers, said Wheeler.

Taxpayers for Common Sense cites several other projects the group deems pork. Among them: $500,000 for the Arctic Winter Games, which take place in Alaska; $3.8 billion for the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Foundation; $850,000 for the Fort Des Moines Memorial Park and Education Center; $1.5 million to the Battleship Texas Foundation to restore and preserve the battleship and $1 million to the Pennsylvania Veterans Museum Media Armory.

Larry Scott

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