The New Pork Database
A while back, several groups including the Club for Growth, were able to get their hands on the 2007 Labor-HHS appropriations bill that was introduced in the House (but has not yet passed), along with the committee report. What we found were 1,867 pork projects hidden in the bill.
In an unprecedented move, we then proceeded to transcribe those pork projects into a massive database that illustrated what the project was, the dollar amount, and the city and state where it was located (but even that wasn't always possible since these projects are sometimes vaguely described).
What we also couldn't do was readily identify the lawmakers who requested each project. Because earmark reform has, not surprisingly, stalled in Congress, politicians can still get away with allocating millions of dollars without any accountability.
We hope to change all of that with this database. Please visit the state-by-state breakdown of where all of this unauthorized, unaccountable pork goes. Find your state and see if you can find the pork projects in your area. If so, please contact your representative's office and ask them if they requested any of the projects. Once you get an answer, send an email to the DC Examiner newspaper (info@examiner.com) with the subject line "Earmarks - Club for Growth" and tell them what you found out.
We are expecting N.Z. Bear at Porkbusters to roll out a more sophisticated display of the database later today.
Our coalition of groups included the DC Examiner, Porkbusters, Citizens Against Government Waste, the Sunlight Foundation, the Heritage Foundation, Townhall.com, and National Taxpayers Union.
Posted at Andrew Roth at 8:14 AM | TrackBack
