Proxmire was a pompous ass. His "Golden Fleece" awards took cheap shots at things like NASA, and the Military while he made sure money flew to his favorite pork barrel the dairy farmers.
I remember one science writer in the 70's said Proxmire would be all for the Space Shuttle if only NASA would fuel it with butter.
"money flew to his favorite pork barrel the dairy farmers. " Proxmire was so bad, Wisconsin farmers still get the lowest price for their milk in all of the USA. Sen Kohl and Sen Feingold have done nothing to correct the situation.
Jerry Pournelle or Larry Niven said that in an article one of them wrote in a sci-fi mag. I remember reading it.
He was a headline hunter. Period.