MD. SEN. MIKULSKI IS PORKER OF MONTH - SEPT. (In more ways that one!)

Citizens Against government Waste | 9/26/02 | Sean Rushton/Mark Carpenter

[Elkiejg]

(Washington, D.C.) - Usually the congressional pork-barrel process is something of a mystery, with boondoggles only brought to light when they are faits accomplis. But occasionally, the mask slips and taxpayers get a glimpse of how spending decisions are really made.

Earlier this year, according to Roll Call, Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs/Housing & Urban Development (VA/HUD) Chair Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) bluntly approached Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.), who faces a tough November election: "Paul, let's talk pork." She added, "We like you and we want you back." Mikulski told Wellstone to get a better fix on projects that would resonate with his Minnesota constituents and to get back to her. Through the VA/HUD bill, Mikulski directed a total of $38.8 million to the states of vulnerable Senate Democrats in Georgia, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, and South Dakota, as well as Minnesota.

For her bald-faced allocation of public funds to the incumbent protection racket, CAGW awards the September 2002 Porker of the Month to Sen. Barbara Mikulski.

Sen. Mikulski has never been shy about securing her own slice of the pie. Since 1995, she has helped secure $650 million in pork for her own state. Extending the pork privilege to states of non-appropriators is just another degree of corruption.

In the VA/HUD appropriation, Mikulski made good on her offer to Wellstone, who pigged out with more than twice as much in community development block grants for Minnesota as last year. Other beneficiaries were Sen. Jean Carnahan (D-Mo.) who got $7.7 million in grants, and Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) who got $3.3 million more than last year.

President Bush's August veto of $5.1 billion in non-emergency funding drew a line in the sand against wasteful spending, but the fiscal 2003 appropriations campaign is gearing up to be one of the most contentious fights in a long time. The appropriators have done little to prepare for the new fiscal year, beginning Oct. 1, with nary a bill being sent to President Bush for his approval.

While all are to blame for the budget mess, the main source of the problems is the Senate. Of the 13 appropriations bills pending in the Senate, only two are less than the President Bush's request: the Legislative Branch Appropriation and the Defense Appropriation. The largest increase comes in the Labor/Health & Human Services/Education Appropriation, to which the Senate added $6 billion above the president's request.

By joining the re-election pork frenzy instead of allocating scarce public funds to defending the nation, bolstering the economy, or reducing the deficit, Sen. Mikulski signals she is more concerned about party politics than America's well-being. For that, she is the CAGW Porker of the Month for September 2002.

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in government. For more information, see CAGW's web site at www.cagw.org.

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[mssnoop]

Does she still have her fingers on the purse strings of the Export Import Bank and the tax free zone in MD?

[Elkiejg]

Does she still have her fingers on the purse strings of the Export Import Bank and the tax free zone in MD?

WOW, good question. I don't know. As a former MD resident I've been following the Gov. race only. Maybe some of our MD freepers will know this answer.