Evidently, at least one member of Congress thinks that $500,000 of your tax dollars is appropriate to construct a fish passage barrier for salmon in Alaska. Although the Republican conference in both the House and Senate has sworn off earmarks, it seems that some in the Senate need one last feast at the trough of pork barrel spending before 2011.
The Senate is considering a catch all spending bill for the year, called the Omnibus Spending Bill that funds the federal government until September 30, 2011. This bill is almost 2,000 pages long and is loaded with at least $8 billion in earmarks.
Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) said on the Senate floor yesterday:
At 12:15 p.m. this afternoon, my office received a copy of the omnibus appropriations bill. It is 1,924 pages long and contains the funding for all 12 of the annual appropriations bills for a grand total of over $1.1 Trillion. It is important to note that the 1,924 pages is only the legislative language and does not include the thousands of pages of report language which contain the details of the billions of dollars in earmarks and, I’m sure, countless policy riders.
Senators Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) and Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) have pledged to force the Senate to read the bill.
The AP reports that “Earmarks feast on pork one last time before diet.”
In the waning days of the lame duck congressional session, Democrats controlling the Senate — in collaboration with a handful of old school Republicans — are pushing to wrap $1.27 trillion worth of unfinished budget work into a single “omnibus” appropriations bill. Their 1,900-plus-page bill comes to the floor this week stuffed with provisions sought by lawmakers. It contains thousands of pet projects, known as earmarks, pushed by Democratic and GOP senators alike — despite a pledge by Republicans to give up such projects next year.
The ‘Bridge to Nowhere’ in this bill may be the line item “Matanuska-Susinta Borough – culvert and fish” contained in the 16 pages of earmarks listed for the Department of Interior and Department of Environment sectionof the Omnibus report. This earmark was requested by Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), a proponent of Congressional earmarking.
According to the Athabascan Nation, Chickaloon Village, this project will fund a “fish friendly” redirected stream of water to help salmon travel and spawn.
Through extensive collaboration with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in 2008 Chickaloon Village replaced three culverts that were partial or complete fish passage barriers for salmon. In 2009 we will design and implement fish passage rehabilitation through perched culverts on several anadromous streams. Designs will be conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and by hired contractors with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Chickaloon Village oversight. The implementation of fish friendly designs will be coordinated by Chickaloon Village with assistance from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The number of culvert sites assessed and designed will depend upon the success of other grant proposals for which we have already applied to cover the majority of design and implementation costs. Eska Creek, McRobert’s Creek and tributaries of Wasilla Creek are our first priorities for culvert improvements and replacements.
The Alaska Salmon earmark is merely one of the estimated 6,488 earmarks in the Omnibus.
Is this a proper use of tax dollars when the federal government is sustaining a $13.8 trillion debt? Why do Members of Congress load up bills with these projects that are not in the proper scope of the federal government?
Senator DeMint gets it –
It’s time for Congress to stop focusing on parochial pet projects, and instead focus on cutting spending, devolving power and decisions back to states, and working on national priorities, like entitlement and tax reform.
If we want to reign in out of control federal spending, Congress must start with reckless earmarks to prove to the American people that they can manage the federal budget.