Posted on May 14, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
CCAGW Statement Submitted for the Record before the House Armed Services Committee
Committee Mark-Up of H.R. 5658, The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009
May 14, 2008
According to the May 2 Congressional Quarterly, some members of the House Armed Services Committee are considering challenging the Air Force’s $35 billion contract award to Northrop Grumman for its [...]
Filed under: Defense, Earmarks, In The News, Pork | No Comments »
Posted on May 9, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
It’s that time of the year again - time to load up the “Emergency” War Supplemental. The hijinx are in full swing with billions of dollars being diverted from a bill that is supposed to go to the troops in the battlefield:
Roll Call: Supplemental Roils Congress
Despite pressure from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Speaker [...]
Filed under: Appropriations, Defense, Earmarks, In The News, Pork, Supplemental, Waste | No Comments »
Posted on April 25, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
Wastewatcher, April 2008
Coconut Road Outrage
by Leslie K. Paige
An update on the ongoing drama associated with what Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) has dubbed “the immaculate earmark.”
Fill’er Up with Politics
by Elizabeth Wright
The Air Force refueling tanker saga started with a provision added to the fiscal 2002 Defense Appropriations Act directing the Air Force to lease 100 [...]
Filed under: Defense, Earmarks, Pork, Waste, Wastewatcher | No Comments »
Posted on April 23, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports on our April Porkers of the Month. Reps. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) and Todd Tiahrt (R-Kans.) respond:
Dicks, Tiahrt ‘Porkers of the Month’ over tanker
George Behan, a spokesman for Dicks, discounted the criticism, saying Dicks believes that the Air Force decision in favor of the Airbus tanker was “flawed.”
Citing the Boeing tanker’s smaller size relative [...]
Filed under: Defense, In The News, Media Hits, Pork, Porker | 1 Comment »
Posted on April 22, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
CAGW Names Reps. Dicks and Tiahrt Porkers of the Month
Washington, D.C. - Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today named Reps. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) and Todd Tiahrt (R-Kans.) April Porkers of the Month for threatening to reverse a $35 billion Air Force refueling tanker contract award to Northrop Grumman. The losing bidder, the Boeing Company, has [...]
Filed under: Defense, Pork, Porker | No Comments »
Posted on March 17, 2008 by Martin Rundle
Visitors to Washington, D.C. often see Marine helicopters buzzing around the National Mall as the president and dignitaries are ferried the ten minutes to Andrews Airforce Base. After 9/11, the White House sought to build a new fleet of “Marine Ones” that would be able to withstand the rigors of a terrorism age, including missile jammers, sophisticated communications [...]
Filed under: Defense, In The News | 1 Comment »
Posted on March 11, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
Posted on March 11, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today launched the first in its new series of occasional video podcasts called Where’s PigFoot? The video podcasts, which will be posted on YouTube and viewable on CAGW’s website and blog, will feature CAGW’s mascot uncovering and exposing government waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement wherever it can be found.
The [...]
Filed under: Appropriations, Defense, Earmarks, PigFoot, Pork, Porker, Video | 2 Comments »
Posted on March 11, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
Boeing Brouhaha
Lawmakers may be using the Boeing Tanker decision for their own political gain, says Tom Schatz Citizens Against Government Waste president, ; with CNBC’s Becky Quick
Filed under: Defense, In The News, Media Hits, Video, Waste | No Comments »
Posted on March 6, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
CAGW was a vocal critic of the original Boeing deal that collapsed in scandal (background here) and now CCAGW has come out in support of the procurement process that resulted in a new $35 billion air refueling tanker contract (read today’s press release here)
The CQ Today Print Edition reports on Hill reaction to the air [...]
Filed under: Defense, In The News, Pork, Waste | No Comments »
Posted on February 28, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
Mention of the Murtha defense lobbyist dinner protest last night as well as Murtha’s Porker of the Year award on FOX News’ Brit Hume Political Grapevine. Watch here (about 45 sec. in).
Playing Defense
Three taxpayer advocacy groups plan to protest outside Congressman John Murtha’s annual fundraising event tonight for defense industry lobbyists who have benefited — or [...]
Filed under: Defense, Earmarks, In The News, Media Hits, Pork, Porker, Video | No Comments »
Posted on February 26, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
Tom Schatz discussed 2007 Porker of the Year John Murtha this morning on CNBC’s Pork Watch. See Tom every Tuesday morning at 6:50am eastern - check your local listings.
Contrary to the statement from Rep. Murtha’s office, the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee which he chairs, did not reduce earmarks by 50% from 2007. 2008 Defense total is 2,109 [...]
Filed under: Defense, Earmarks, In The News, Media Hits, Pork, Porker, Video | No Comments »
Posted on February 21, 2008 by Martin Rundle
We all know government accounting is suspect at best. And we certainly don’t expect every Kwik-E-Mart in the tribal regions of Pakistan to be providing a receipt with purchase…but when the U.S. military is handing out approximately $1 billion a year under the Coalition Support Funds program to support our Pakistani allies along the Afghan border at least a little [...]
Filed under: Defense, International | No Comments »
Posted on February 1, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
Sen. DeMint (a CCAGW Taxpayer Hero) targets a city’s earmarks for its hostility toward the Marines:
U.S. Senator Wants to Revoke Funding From City of Berkeley, Calif., for Vote to Boot Marines
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., says the City of Berkeley, Calif., no longer deserves federal money.
DeMint was angered after learning that the Berkeley City [...]
Filed under: Defense, Earmarks, In The News, Pork, State Issues, Waste | No Comments »
Posted on January 31, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
The GAO just released a report called ”Congressional Directives: Selected Agencies’ Processes for Responding to Funding Instructions,” or in layman’s terms - Earmarks: How They Detract from Agencies’ Priorities.
The agencies that the GAO looked at were the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Department of Transportation, and the U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers’ Civil Works programs.
CAGW pulled from each [...]
Filed under: Appropriations, Budget, Defense, Earmarks, Energy, In The News, Pork, Transportation | No Comments »
Posted on January 23, 2008 by Leslie Paige
Take a look at this submission by Public Citizen’s lobbyist Craig Holman which appeared in yesterday’s Roll Call ($):
‘Bridges to Nowhere’ Are No More
Call them earmarks, if you must, but they ain’t the “pork” of yesteryear. Minnesota Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D) and Norm Coleman (R) added a $195 million earmark to the omnibus appropriations bill to rebuild the collapsed [...]
Filed under: Appropriations, Budget, Defense, Earmarks, In The News, Media Hits, Pig Book, Pork, Reform, Waste | No Comments »
Posted on December 3, 2007 by Alexa Moutevelis
Breakdown of projects and dollar amounts by party in Defense Bill:
Party Projects % Dollar Amount %
Democrats 877 42% $2.1 billion 32%
Republicans 630 30% $1.6 billion 24%
Indep.* 1 n/a $1.7 million n/a
Multi 540 26% $1.3 billion 20%
No sponsor 28 1% $1.6 billion 24%
TOTAL 2076 100% $6.6 billion 100%
*Sanders
View Defense Earmark Database HERE
Filed under: Appropriations, Defense, Earmarks, Pork | No Comments »
Posted on November 28, 2007 by Alexa Moutevelis
Article in the Times West Virginian about Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), CAGW’s King of Pork:
Byrd has helped earmark nearly $229 million in three major spending bills for fiscal year 2008. Most of that money will find its way to West Virginia.
…Byrd’s largest single allocation is a $54 million earmark in the defense spending bill for the [...]
Filed under: Appropriations, Defense, Earmarks, In The News, Media Hits, Pork, Porker | No Comments »
Posted on November 27, 2007 by Alexa Moutevelis
See Tom Schatz take on November Porker of the Month Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) and his “First Tee” Defense earmark on this week’s CNBC Pork Watch.
Filed under: Defense, Earmarks, In The News, Media Hits, Pork, Porker, Video | No Comments »
Posted on November 26, 2007 by Leslie Paige
Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard argues that advocates for limited government and fiscal restraint shouldn’t give up the ship of state. One interesting observation:
Divided government–Congress controlled by one party, the White House by the other–is a boon to limiting spending. Going back a half century, a study by William Niskanen of the Cato Institute [...]
Filed under: Appropriations, Defense, In The News, Reform | No Comments »
Posted on November 15, 2007 by Alexa Moutevelis
Read more
Porker of the Month:
Rep. James Clyburn
Filed under: Defense, Earmarks, Pork, Porker | 1 Comment »
Posted on November 14, 2007 by Alexa Moutevelis
See VP of Policy David Williams discuss Defense Pork with Glenn Beck on CNN Headline News at 7pm and 9pm eastern. Check local listings.
Filed under: Defense, In The News | No Comments »
Posted on November 9, 2007 by Alexa Moutevelis
David Freddoso of National Review Online did some further investigation into Rep. James Clyburn’s (D-S.C.) “First Tee” earmark that CAGW highlighted in the Defense Pork Alert.
Filed under: Defense, Earmarks, In The News, Media Hits, Pork | No Comments »
Posted on November 7, 2007 by Alexa Moutevelis
Today CAGW released a list of the most egregious pork projects we found in the 2008 Defense appropriations bill.
Filed under: Appropriations, Defense, Earmarks, Pig Book, Pork | 2 Comments »
Posted on November 2, 2007 by Alexa Moutevelis
From the Lexington Herald-Leader
Slashing of McConnell earmarks demanded
But critics say McConnell is propping up a company that apparently can’t compete without him. While it sounds good for a senator to defend jobs, “we should be spending federal money where and as we need to, not to keep the lights on in someone’s district,” said David Williams, [...]
Filed under: Defense, Earmarks, In The News, Media Hits, Pork | No Comments »
