Citizens Against Government Waste are back with the latest iteration of their popular report, the 2009 Congressional Pig Book. As usual, the news isn’t pretty:
This morning, at a press conference at the National Press Club, Citizens Against Government (CAGW) divulged publicly for the first time that despite the Obama Administration’s and Congress’ claims to the contrary, the cost of pork rose in the fiscal 2009 appropriations bills. From 11,610 pork-barrel projects costing taxpayers $17.2 billion in fiscal 2008, the price tag for our politicians’ self-serving spending climbed 14 percent to $19.6 billion in fiscal 2009, while the number of projects dropped to 10,160.
CAGW has set up a handy Pork Database of all 10,160 projects, as well as a breakdown of pork per capita by state.