Word: pork-barrel
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...likely to be the final demand on the Colorado River's bounty. No reclamation work even close to CAP's size is currently planned; Congress, mindful of criticism of pork-barrel projects, has not authorized a major new water program since 1976. Yet Lamm's own state is likely to need more water by the end of the century. Congress has funded parts of an ongoing $1.2 billion reclamation project in Utah that would involve the Colorado's water. Since the river's harvest is fixed, and already overal-located, experts warn that the only way to accommodate these...
...reason the $388 billion spending measure that Congress rushed to approve by Thanksgiving is 3,320 pages long is that lawmakers have stuffed it with pork-barrel prizes. The bill has 11,772 pet projects costing a total of $15.8 billion, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, a government watchdog group. Congressional leaders of both parties have always allowed appropriations bills to be larded with stuff to ensure votes for the final measure. But in the past decade, when Congress has been dominated by the supposedly fiscally conservative G.O.P., the amount of pork in appropriations bills has more than tripled...
...Pork-barrel politics is one thing when the federal government is running surplus a la Bill Clinton. But now that the country is facing a huge and dangerous budget deficit, Congress still passed an omnibus spending bill filled to the brim with gratuitous appropriations. In the wake of another bumper crop of cash for the unnecessary to the absurd in pet Congressional districts, some belt-tightening has to happen somewhere. Congress’ latest bright idea? Cut Pell Grants to poor college kids to make up some of the difference...
...agency with a mission as important as that of the Department of Homeland Security should be above the base politics of pork-barrel spending. While states like California and Florida stretch about $20 a head to secure their ports, tourist attractions, major cities and so on, the safety of the whole nation is put in jeopardy. Alaska should not be the only place in America where it is possible to feel that the government is doing its best to keep citizens safe...
...faces state attorney general Ken Salazar, 49, who has done a savvy job of playing up his humble rancher's roots; as he drives around in a pickup truck, the pro-choice Catholic calls for prescription-drug imports from Canada and a rollback of the Patriot Act. While attacking pork-barrel spending, Coors has stressed his business acumen and conservative values (favorite book: the Bible). Lately he has gotten flak for his family's outsourcing of jobs--a little reminder that wealth and fame can be a double-edged sword...