2010 February

How Our Tax Dollars Are Spent

February 11th, 2010 |

Author: admin

Pork is good for breakfast, not for taxes.

Thanks to the Citizens Against Government Waste, we get to see just how our tax dollars are being spent. Click the image above to go to the full PDF document.

$3,097,167 for shrimp aquaculture research in seven states by Senate Appropriations Committee RankingMember Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), House appropriator Ed Pastor (D-Ariz.), and Reps. Raul Grijalva (D-Texas), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), and Richard Neal (D-Mass.). In the past, USDA has testified that, “The goal of this program is to develop a sustainable domestic shrimp farming industry in the United States.” The timeline for this achievement appears to be indefinite. Since 1985, $68.7 million has been appropriated for this research.

$742,764 by Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) for olive fruit fly research. Part of this money, $211,509, is to be spent in Paris, France.

$7,520,000 for the Center for Marine Aquaculture (according to the senator’s website, “Funding will be used to create, develop, and commercialize new technology to meet America’s demand for warm water marine seafood. This program will lay the basis for the development of a new industry for Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico region.”)

$178,600 for Johns Hopkins University Baltimore for the Johns HopkinsPrisoner Career Re-Entry Program to provide job training and placement.

$1,648,850 for the Shedd Aquarium by Senate appropriator Richard Durbin (D-Ill), Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), House appropriator Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.). The aquarium’s website says the facility was a “gift to the people of Chicago from John Graves Shedd, president and chairman of the board of Marshall Fields & Company.” This aquarium receives 2 million visitors per year and has 36 corporate benefactors. At the end of 2004 (the last year for which information is available), the aquarium had a fund balance of approximately $200 million. Those are some liquid assets.

Have the 2 million annual visitors pay a dollar each and they won’t need our tax money.

$4,800,000 by Rep. AnthonyWeiner (D-N.Y.) for the Jamaica Bay Unit of the Gateway National Recreation Area. The Gateway National Recreation Area’s website describes the Jamaica Bay Unit as “a wealth of history, nature and recreation, from New York City’s first major airport and coastal fortifications to a wildlife refuge and pristine beaches.” A nice place to swim away with defense dollars.

$3,000,000 by House MajorityWhip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) for The First Tee, whose purpose, according to its website, is “To impact the lives of young people by providing learning facilities and educational programs that promote character development and life enhancing values through the game of golf.”

For $3 Million of tax dollars, we shouldn’t have to pay green fees anymore

$588,000,000 to accelerate the building of a second Virginia Class Submarine. Even though the earmark was technically undisclosed, Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Ct.) took credit for it in a press release dated November 13, 2007. According to an article in The Hill, “In a report to Congress, the Navy said boosting the production of submarines early would disrupt its overall shipbuilding plan by shifting $5.1 billion from other important programs.”

$82,164,000 by Senate appropriator Patty Murray (D-Wash.) for Columbia River fish mitigation in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. This project funds bypass facilities for migratory salmon and steelhead fish at the multiple dams along the Columbia River.

$2,400,000 by Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) for renovations to Haddad Riverfront Park. On February 1, 2008 The Charleston Gazette quoted Chairman Byrd as saying, “Maintaining and improving Haddad Riverfront Park is a top priority for the city of Charleston.” If it is so important, the 51,342 residents of Charleston could each pay $46.75 to the city instead of forcing the price tag on the hundreds of millions of Americans who probably will never visit the facility.

$625,000 by House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) for the Congressional Cemetery inWashington, D.C. The cemetery is supposed to be a historic landmark, but according to the website of the organization established to preserve the cemetery, a “prominent U.S. Senator” said that he “had never heard of it.” Locally, the cemetery is best known as an open space where, for an annual membership fee, Capitol Hill residents can let their dogs run free.

$500,000 by House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) for unspecified upgrades to Barracks Row, an upscale eighborhood eight blocks from the U.S. Capitol Building. Rep. Lewis felt it necessary to appropriate funds even though the Barracks Row website claims “business is booming.” Lewis stated, “…the return on the federal investment is difficult to measure, but it’s truly immeasurable in my mind’s eye.” The picture becomes
clearer when one learns that Rep. Lewis’wife, who is also his chief of staff, owns a residence four blocks from Barracks Row.

$123,050 for a Mother’s Day Shrine in Grafton (population 5,489, with a land area of 3.8 square miles).

$3,051,640 by Senate InteriorAppropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Larry Craig (R-Idaho): $1,575,040 for Gold Creek Ranch;$984,400 for Idaho’s strategic plan for managing noxious weeds;$295,320 for the Chesterfield Schoolhouse; and $196,880 for theWilson Theatre in Rupert. According to Idaho Public Television, “In 1998 the citizens of Rupert listed as their top priority the restoring of theWilson building. ‘We have set a tentative date of April 2006, which is the Centennial of the founding of the city of Rupert,’ says Earl Corless, a member of the board of directors overseeing construction. ‘We would love to have it finished and opened by then.’ By January of 2005, the town folks had raised a million dollars. They need a million and a half more.” Just not from their own pockets.

$393,760 by Senate appropriator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and House appropriator Tom Latham (R-Iowa) for the City National Bank Building. Theprivately-owned building was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and is currently undergoing renovations for the creation of a hotel consisting of 26 guest rooms.

$246,100 by Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee member Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) for the Grand Opera House in Dell Rapids. In 2006, the Argus Leader in Sioux Falls noted that after an upcoming fundraiser, the building was going to be renovated to be a bar and restaurant.

$172,270 by Rep. JerryWeller (R-Ill.) for the Scottish Rite Temple in Bloomington.

$98,440 by House appropriator Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.) and Rep. Robert Brady (D-Pa.) for the Philadelphia Art Museum. At the end of 2004 (the latest available), the Philadelphia Art Museum had net assets in excess of $300 million.

$125,000 by Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and House appropriator RogerWicker (R-Miss.) for theUniversity of Mississippi music archives.

$4,800,000 by House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) for air conditioning at Vista Del Sol, Twentynine Palms.

$33,005,420 for 35 projects by Senate appropriator Christopher “Kit” Bond (R-Mo.), including: $1,470,000 for statewide bus and bus facilities;$551,250 for the Heart of America Bicycle/Pedestrian Bridge; $367,500 for improvements to Downtown Square Street in Grant City; $367,500 for redevelopment of the 11th and Grand neighborhood in Kansas City; and $183,750 for restoration of the Poplar Bluff Historic Depot.

$2,450,000 by House appropriator Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) for two earmarks for the construction of Interstate 66 in Kentucky. In the early 1990s, I-66 was conceived as a coast-to-coast highway. However, the 1994 Transamerica Transportation Corridor Feasibility Study found that it was not worth the cost. While most states abandoned the project, Rep. Rogers has not been deterred from his mission of building this boondoggle. Of the entire I-66 project in Kentucky, only two short sections that are 120 miles apart have
reached the planning stage. Those portions, approximately 61 miles total in length, are expected to cost $3.5 billion. Government officials cannot say how or if the entire project will be funded.

$98,000 by Rep. John McHugh (R-N.Y.) for renovations to the Wakely Lodge Resort, the site of a nine-hole public golf course in Indian Lake. The $19 greens fee charged atWakely Lodge Golf Course is apparently not enough to cover renovations to the lodge.

$98,000 by House appropriator Virgil Goode (R-Va.) to develop a walking tour of Boydton. The town has a population of 474, and covers .82 square miles. That’s a lot of money for a short walk.