The No Pork Pledge
Friday, September 30, 2005
By: Brandon Gustafson

Wastewatcher, September 2005

            Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast on Monday, August 29, leaving massive floods, debris, and overturned lives in its wake.  The federal government could end up spending as much as $300 billion on cleanup and recovery efforts.  Rebuilding in the Gulf States could cost more in the first year than the past three years of the Iraq war combined, so the Pork Patrol is on high alert to prevent special interest projects from creeping into emergency spending bills. 

As part of this effort, the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) is urging members of Congress to sign the “Hurricane Katrina No Pork Pledge.”  By signing the pledge, members vow to oppose any project or provision that is not directly related to the impact of Hurricane Katrina in any supplemental appropriations bill that provides funds for hurricane relief.

A federal response is appropriate for disasters of the largest magnitude.  CCAGW has long argued that federal agencies should be required to set aside 1 percent of their annual budgets for emergencies.  Unfortunately, this recommendation has never been enacted, so Congress pays for disasters by passing emergency supplemental bills after the fact.  Such bills funded federal responses to Hurricane Andrew in 1992, the 2003 Florida hurricanes, and the 1994 Los Angeles earthquakes.  In each of those instances, the federal response was stymied by members of Congress adding pork-barrel projects to the emergency spending bills.  Such bills have become magnets for pork because they do not count against House and Senate budget caps and are always signed by the President.      

The $82 billion Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Tsunami Relief, 2005 (H.R. 1268) was passed for the exact purposes the name implies, to help the countries affected by the Asian tsunami and to help with the War on Terror.  Congress added $1.13 billion for pork projects that had nothing to do with either objective, including $55 million for wastewater treatment in Desoto County, Mississippi, and $25 million for the Fort Peck Fish Hatchery in Montana.

            In April 2003, Congress passed the $78.5 billion War Supplemental Appropriations Act.  It included 29 unrelated projects costing taxpayers $348 million, including $110 million for the National Animal Disease Center in Ames, Iowa.     

While the two emergency supplementals passed by Congress and signed into law in the immediate aftermath of Katrina were pork-free, that is an exception to the pork profiteering that follows a disaster.  With more supplementals on the horizon (and the Louisiana delegation asking for $250 billion for relief and reconstruction), CCAGW expects members of Congress to pile on the pork. 

            To date, two Senators and 13 representatives have signed the pledge:  Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.); Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz); Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.); Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio); Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), Rep. Chris Chocola (R-Ind.), Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Fla.), Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.), Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas); Rep. Patrick McHenry (NC), Rep. Jefferson Miller (R-Fla.); Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.); and Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA). 

            By signing the pledge, members of Congress are standing up for taxpayers and urging their colleagues to keep the supplementals pork-free.