Is it only pork when it’s in someone else’s district?
Louisiana ranks eighth in the nation among states receiving earmark funding in the $410 billion 2009 Omnibus Spending Bill approved by Congress, according to an updated tally released Tuesday by fiscal watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense. In the bill TCS identifies $7.7 billion in earmarks — spending provisions inserted by individual members of Congress — and U.S. Senators Mary Landrieu and David Vitter were among the biggest spenders.
The state’s total take, according to TCS, is just under $233 million dollars for 192 earmark projects. The group ranks Landrieu third and Vitter fifth among senators inserting earmarks, although some of those spending measures were co-sponsored by the pair.
TCS contends many if not most of the earmarks are wasteful. But Vitter has defended them, pointing to funding for hurricane recovery and law enforcement. Vitter’s GOP colleague and party standard bearer Sen. John McCain of Arizona questioned a $6.6 million earmark to battle Formosan termites, which are chewing their way through thousands of wood-frame houses mainly in the New Orleans area.
Louisiana was second to Mississippi in an earmark tally released earlier this week by TCS. But late runs at the money by California, Texas, Florida, New York and Pennsylvania pushed us down the list. Mississippi still ranks third. Alabama comes it at seventh.
Per capita earmark spending, according to the TCS ranking, puts Louisiana in 11th place with $52.78 spent for each of our 4.4 million residents. Ironically, Alaska tops this list with $209.71 spent per resident (686,293 total population); ironic because Gov. Sarah Palin, McCain’s running mate last year, is the namesake for a national organization that staged demonstrations across the country March 7, including here in Lafayette, to protest wasteful federal spending in the stimulus bill.
... written by Tara B. , March 11, 2009 - 03:50 pm
Not defending anybody here, but just to straighten our your spin on Sarah Palin, you should probably mention that Alaska only has approx 700,000 residents, so just about any public project is going to cost more money per capita. I guess listing the dollar figure of Alaska's earmarks wouldn't seem as negative as the way you did it though. Pretty slick.
... written by a guest , March 11, 2009 - 06:13 pm
Between this action & the blow up at the airport, looks like I might be looking for a new Republican Senator. This kind of action is the reason the Republicans lost the election & why Amercia now is required to suffer under a Socialistic bound leadership
Signed A "dyed in the wool" conservative from La.
... written by a guest , March 11, 2009 - 06:36 pm
I am another conservative in the state ready for a new Senator and the replacement of the RINO Alexander in congress. I am feed up with Politicians that talk one way at home and another in DC. Nobody can explain why we need a new airport terminal in Monroe when boardings are down every year and people are going to Jackson because of pricing and yet we are going to waste 30 million for a monument for a mayor. We are sick, sick, sick as a nation right now. Sharkbait
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