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Plenty Of Pork On Congressional Menu

Congress spent a record amount on "pork-barrel" projects last fall, including $50,000 for a tattoo removal program in California, according to a report released Tuesday by a citizen's watchdog group.

Lawmakers earmarked a record $20.1 billion for pet projects in the 13 annual appropriations bills passed by Congress last fall, according to the "2002 Congressional Pig Book" compiled by the group Citizens Against Government Waste. "Pork-barrel" spending for fiscal year 2002 topped the previous year's figure by $1.6 billion.

"As the nation pays its taxes this month, citizens should look at both parties in Congress with scorn," Citizens Against Government Waste President Thomas Schatz said. "Here we are a nation at war and yet Republicans and Democrats pass record levels of pork."

To qualify as "pork," a project had to meet at least one of the group's seven criteria, but many satisfied at least two.

The criteria included projects: Requested by only one chamber of Congress; not specifically authorized by any committee; not competitively awarded; not requested by the president; not subject to a congressional hearing; or serving only a local or special interest.

Schatz's group bestowed "Oinkers" awards on some of the most notorious spenders. Alaska Republican Sen. Ted Stevens won the "Snow Job Award" for the $451 million blizzard of pork-barrel projects benefiting his state.

And Democrat Sen. Daniel Inouye was given the "Pacific Fleeced Award" for securing $432 million for Hawaii. Alaska and Hawaii led the nation in per capita "pork-barrel" spending, followed closely by West Virginia, which took home $388 million.

West Virginia Democrat Sen. Robert Byrd is the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Stevens is the ranking member and Inouye is a senior member of the panel which controls the congressional purse strings.

Representatives for Byrd and Stevens declined comment.

Other "egregious and blatant examples of pork" cited by the group included: $800,000 for Satsuma orange research in Alabama; $400,000 for the Montana Sheep Institute to improve the profitability of the state's sheep industry; $273,000 for the Blue Springs (Missouri) Youth Orchestra Outreach Unit for educational training to combat Goth culture; $249,000 to give each student a laptop computer at Schurz Elementary School in Nevada; and $50,000 for a tattoo removal program in San Luis Obispo, California.

Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, who joined Schatz at the news conference called for renewed efforts to fight "pork-barrel" spending.

"It's like any other evil," McCain said. "You either check it and get rid of it, or it gets worse."

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