House Democrats to Cut Some Pork From the Menu

WASHINGTON (March 12) -- It's hard to compete with bridges to nowhere, teapot museums and gigantic weapons systems the Pentagon doesn't want.

But finally, pork projects for private companies are getting their due. House Democrats said earlier this week they will ban earmarks for private companies -- funding stuck into gigantic spending bills by lawmakers that benefits a particular company without a competitive bid process.

Anti-waste groups say it is a good first step, though it only affects about 10 percent of the controversial pork projects. Good government groups have been railing against the practice of earmarking for years, saying it breeds a cycle of corruption.

"There's a trade: 'You give me earmarks, I give you campaign donations.' The American public is not getting a benefit here," said Melanie Sloan, head of the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

The House ethics committee recently investigated seven members of the Appropriations Committee who collected campaign cash from companies that had gotten millions in earmarks from them. The committee took no action, disappointing Sloan and others.

"It's easier to vote someone out of office than rely on the ethics committee to really have any teeth and come down with any sanctions," said David Williams, vice president of Citizens Against Government Waste, which puts out an annual "Pig Book" of what it sees as the most egregious pork projects.

Williams said the public is weary of the practice and paying more attention. The infamous "bridge to nowhere" in Alaska drew public outrage.

The Democratic House proposal doesn't apply to the Senate and wouldn't affect funding for pet congressional district projects like the bridge the nowhere if they go to state and local governments. It also wouldn't affect earmarks for nonprofits, which critics say is a huge loophole. Sloan said defense contractors, for instance, have figured out how to set up nonprofits to funnel earmarks back to private companies.

Republican House members proposed a ban on all earmarks. It would bar future cases like the Lobster Institute funding in 2008, including a "lobster cam" in murky waters. That sort of research should be paid for by the lobster industry, Williams said.

The broader GOP ban also would include cases like the grant to the Tiger Woods' foundation. "The guy has more money than God. The last person who should be asking for money from the federal government was Tiger Woods," Williams said.

The Democratic earmark ban will cover defense contractor projects slipped into massive earmark lists based on political influence. But Pete Sepp of the National Taxpayers Union warned that won't cut out all the spending on weapons systems the Pentagon doesn't want. Lawmakers are likely to continue their practice of using committee and floor votes (instead of earmarks) to add money for weapons that help their districts. And contractors have become masters at spreading jobs from weapons systems among many congressional districts to widen their net of influence.

"It does not mean the funding flow is going to dry up," Sepp said. But at least if there are open votes on the weapons system, more information is available to the public. But Sloan said lawmakers may turn to a less transparent trick: "letter marking." That's when influential lawmakers, such as those who control an agency's budget, write to the Pentagon or other federal agency pressuring them to include the funding in their overall budget.

In 2008, the House passed rules requiring that lawmakers sign their name to their earmarks. Until then the process was completely behind closed doors.

Pork projects have dropped since then. The peak was $29 billion in earmarks in 2006, compared to $19.6 billion in 2009. And Williams says there are fewer "silly projects" in the light of the new disclosures.

Here are some of the past projects featured in the Pig Book that won federal aid in recent years:

• $1 million for the Waterfree Urinal Conservation Initiative. A Michigan company makes the no-flush toilets.

• $98,000 for a New York state resort and golf course called the Wakely Lodge Resort.

• $250,000 for the North Creek Ski Bowl in New York.

• $775,000 for the swanky Biltmore Hotel in South Florida. The resort, with its luxe spa and poolside cabanas, got money from an economic development program for poor areas.

• $465 million to develop a second engine for the Joint Strike Fighter, a program that is over budget. The Air Force said it didn't need the second engine and couldn't afford it, but it was slipped anonymously into a spending bill.

• The Sparta Teapot Museum in North Carolina was supposed to receive $500,000. (It recently went out of business.)