The 2006 Congressional Pig Book is out, and California’s a loser!

Of $9b in pork identified by Citizens Against Government Waste, California received $20.30 per capita — good enough for #43 out of the 51 states and DC. But in absolute terms, the Golden State led the way with $733m of earmarked projects. The per-capita winner: Alaska, home of former Senate Appropriations chairman Ted Stevens, with almost $490 of federal pork per citizen.

Some of California’s porky projects, according to CAGW:

• In the Defense bill: “$5,600,000 added by the House for the Gallo Center. According to its website, “The Ernest Gallo Clinic & Research Center (EGCRC) at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) was established in 1980 to study basic neuroscience and the effects of alcohol and drug abuse on the brain.” There is no mention of any defense-related research. Apparently, they will serve no pork before its time.”

• Also in Defense: “…$1,000,000 for the Griffith Observatory Planetarium. … the newly renovated Griffith observatory will showcase American accomplishments in space. There are no exhibits yet planned on how DOD will defend the world against aliens.”

• “$100,000 for the city of Thousand Oaks, California to construct a community aquatics complex on the campus of California Lutheran University. The project, constructed in a town with a median household income of $76,815, will include a 50-meter swimming pool, in which taxpayers can watch their hard-earned money drown.”

According to the pork database, Long Beach will receive $150k “to develop an exhibit to educate the public on the importance of ports” (does the busiest port complex in the nation really need that?) and El Monte will receive $350k of federal money for a community gym.

Think about that on April 15th.

Technorati Tags: budget, pork spending

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 5th, 2006 at 9:48 pm by A Senior Administration Official and is filed under Your Tax Dollars In Action. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.