The Swine Line

Virginia Pork for Crabs and Sheep

The 2009 federal budget will include funding for some strange animals if one Virginia lawmaker has his way.

Rep. Rick Boucher, a Democrat from southwest Virginia, has requested $744,325 to study the horseshoe crab and $250,000 for hair sheep - a unique bread of short-haired sheep that does not require shearing.

Both requests would go to Virginia Tech, which already has efforts to establish a “hair sheep research center” to study the genetics of the sheep and improve the animal’s resistance to parasites, and get more people to buy the lamb’s meat.

…Critics of earmarks, like David Williams, a vice president at Citizens Against Government Waste, laughed at the requests.

“Would it be inappropriate to say, ‘This is baaaad,‘” Williams joked. “Those are ridiculous local projects that should not be paid for by taxpayers across the country.” …

The article goes on to defend the earmarks as being necessary for food supply and even medicine, but because these projects are earmarks, they have not been properly vetted.  Even if these were national priorities, how do we know if southwestern Virginia is the best place for funding projects of this kind?  Rep. Boucher isn’t asking for funding based on any proven merit, but because it will go to his district.