{"id":2266199,"date":"2024-06-12T16:26:02","date_gmt":"2024-06-12T20:26:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pig-book-exposes-23-billion-in-pork-spending-and-lists-lawmakers-behind-the-earmarks\/"},"modified":"2024-06-12T16:28:34","modified_gmt":"2024-06-12T20:28:34","slug":"pig-book-exposes-23-billion-in-pork-spending-and-lists-lawmakers-behind-the-earmarks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pig-book-exposes-23-billion-in-pork-spending-and-lists-lawmakers-behind-the-earmarks\/","title":{"rendered":"Pig book&#8217; reveals $23 billion in pork spending, names responsible lawmakers"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fpig-book-exposes-23-billion-in-pork-spending-and-lists-lawmakers-behind-the-earmarks%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2266199&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The text \u2062discusses\u200d an event where a group of Republican House members and the non-profit organization Citizens\u2063 Against Government Waste (CAGDC)\u200c unveiled the 32nd\u2062 edition of the &#8220;Congressional Pig Book.&#8221; This annual publication, active since 1991, documents \u200b&#8221;pork-barrel&#8221; spending within the federal budget\u2014earmarks directly allocating \u2064federal funds to specific pet projects in legislators&#8217; home states and districts.  <\/p>\n<p>The release event included a live pig named Poppy to symbolize the issue and highlighted findings of 8,222 earmarks\u200c in the last fiscal year, totaling\u2062 $22.7 billion. Key speakers such as\u2062 Reps. Tom \u2062McClintock, Debbie Lesko, and Ralph Norman criticized these spending practices.\u200d McClintock\u2064 emphasized the necessity to end congressional\u2062 hypocrisy and earmarks to avoid fiscal irresponsibility witnessed in other nations. <\/p>\n<p>In 2021, Democrats lifted a 10-year moratorium on earmarks, and House Republicans voted to maintain them \u2063in December 2022. The book notes a 11% increase in earmarks compared to fiscal year 2023 with Alaska, \u2064Maine, Hawaii, the Northern Marianas Island territory, and West Virginia\u200d receiving the \u200cmost earmarks. CAGW President Tom Schatz\u200d expressed the need for renewed efforts to abolish\u2062 earmarks, recalling former GOP \u2063House Speaker John Boehner&#8217;s\u200c successful ban in 2010, urging to repeat\u200c such measures \u200cto control spending. The event\u2064 also\u2063 named several lawmakers participating in extensive \u2064earmark spending.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>A group of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/republican\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Republican\">Republican<\/a> House members stood alongside a non-profit organization Wednesday as it released the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cagw.org\/reporting\/pig-book-2024\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>32nd edition<\/a> of the \u201cCongressional Pig Book,\u201d an annual, published compilation of \u201cpork-barrel\u201d projects in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/federal-budget\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"federal budget\">federal budget<\/a>, in an effort to shed light on what they view as wasteful pet projects.<\/p>\n<p>The non-profit group <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cagw.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Citizens Against Government Waste<\/a> has published a collection of pork-barrel spending every year since 1991. The book features lawmakers from both sides of the aisle who the authors say are responsible for spending <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/earmarks\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>earmarks<\/a>, known as <a href=\"https:\/\/appropriations.house.gov\/transparency\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/a-deeper-dive-into-16-billion-in-omnibus-earmarks\/\" title=\"Omnibus Earmarks: Deeper Dive to  Billion\">community project funding<\/a><\/a>, which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/breaking-gop-stops-democrats-attempt-to-tilt-every-election-permanently-in-their-favor\/\" title=\"BREAKING: GOP Stops Democrats\u2019 Attempt To \u2018Tilt Every Election \u2026 Permanently In Their Favor\u2019\">direct federal dollars<\/a> to specific \u201cpet projects\u201d in members\u2019 home states and districts.<\/p>\n<p>The authors hosted an event, featuring a live pig named Poppy, to raise awareness over the number of earmarks. The group found a total of 8,222 earmarks in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/south-dakota-lowers-unemployment-to-pre-pandemic-levels-after-state-rejected-lockdowns\/\" title=\"South Dakota Lowers Unemployment to Pre-Pandemic Levels After State Rejected Lockdowns\">past fiscal year<\/a>, which cost $22.7 billion. Several House Republicans, including Reps. Tom McClintock (R-CA), Debbie Lesko (R-AZ), and Ralph Norman (R-SC) spoke out to slam the spending practice.<\/p>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cIf we are going to avoid the terrible fate of so many nations before us, we have to end congressional hypocrisy and earmarks are the most glaring part of that,\u201d McClintock said at the event. <\/p>\n<p>In 2021, Democrats ended a 10-year moratorium on earmarks. House Republicans <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/413106\/gop-opponents-of-omnibus-secured-billions-in-funding-for-pet-projects-to-districts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>voted <\/a>to keep earmarks for spending bills in December 2022, which was a defeat for conservatives looking to rein in spending on \u201cpork.\u201d Republicans had banned earmarks when they took control of the House in 2010.<\/p>\n<p>CAGW President Tom Schatz highlighted the findings by his team, including 11% more earmarks than in fiscal year 2023. Alaska, Main, Hawaii, the Northern Marianas Island territory, and West Virginia received the most earmarks, according to the research. Schatz emphasized more could be done to stop earmarks from continuing in the future.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cIf we go back a few years to [former GOP House Speaker] John Boehner, who was adamantly opposed to earmarks, who led the Republican Conference to abolish them in the House of Representatives, it can be done,\u201d Schatz said. \u201cIt has been done. It will need to be done again if we\u2019re ever going to get our spending back under control.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<p>Here are some lawmakers who were called out for their \u201cmad pursuit of pork.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>The Whole Hog Award<\/h2>\n<p>Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) received this title for 231 earmarks totaling\u00a0$575,580,000, the highest amount received. <\/p>\n<h2>The House of Pork Award<\/h2>\n<p>This title went to Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN), who received 13 earmarks, totaling $270,330,940, which was the most in the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n<h2>The You Cannot be Serious Award<\/h2>\n<p>Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) were called out for their earmark of $1,750,000 for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. <\/p>\n<h2>The Singing A Sour Note for Taxpayers Award<\/h2>\n<p>Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Susan Collins (R-ME) received this award as a result of their earmarks for their respective opera houses in their states, which were a combined $739,000. The funding included $500,000 from Sanders for the Vergennes Opera House in Vermont and $239,000 from Collins for the Bangor Opera House in Maine.<\/p>\n<h2>The Crabby Pork Award<\/h2>\n<p>Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) took home this award for an earmark of $4,000,000 for the Alaska King Crab Enhancement Project.<\/p>\n<h2>The We\u2019re Going to Need a Bigger Boat Award<\/h2>\n<p>Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) received an earmark of $190,000 for a shark repellant study at the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida. The criticism comes after a number of<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/energy-and-environment\/3033468\/shark-attacks-nationwide-result-in-closed-beaches\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title> shark attacks in Florida<\/a> over the weekend. <\/p>\n<h2>The Presidential Library Industrial Complex Award<\/h2>\n<p>Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) received this acknowledgment for an earmark totaling $17,500,000 for construction at the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum in Abilene, Kansas.<\/p>\n<h2>The Fiscal Unfitness Award<\/h2>\n<p>Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) received this award for an earmark of $500,000 she received for the restoration of a historic gymnasium in Madison, Mississippi.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Wednesday, Republican House members joined the non-profit Citizens Against Government Waste to unveil the 32nd &#8220;Congressional Pig Book.&#8221; This annual publication highlights what they consider wasteful &#8220;pork-barrel&#8221; spending in the federal budget, aiming to expose unnecessary pet projects<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2657,"featured_media":2266200,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/AP23037632304261.jpg.optimal.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2266199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/AP23037632304261.jpg.optimal.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2266199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2657"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2266199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2266199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2266200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2266199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2266199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2266199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}