The New Pig Book is Out!

Citizens Against Government Waste has released the 2009 Pig Book.

Here is the complete summary.

In order to be considered for inclusion in the PigBook, all items of the summary must meet at least one of the CAGW's criteria, though many satisfy two:

1) Requested by only one chamber of Congress
2) Not specifically authorized
3) Not competitively awarded
4) Not requested by the President
5) Greatly exceeds the President's budget request or the previous year's funding
6) Not the subject of congressional hearings
7) or, Serves only a local or special interest

I believe that as a bare minimum, any incumbent seeking re-election must not appear in the Pig Book. It is shameful just how many special projects (pork) are routinely authorized.

For example, under section III, we learn:

On the strength of an extremely expensive collection of anonymous projects, which do not contain the name of any representative or senator, dollar amounts in the 2009 Department of Defense (DOD) Appropriations Act skyrocketed by 53.5 percent.

It appears to be too difficult to fill in the blanks, or perhaps the spending is so shameful, no representative in his/her right mind would dare attach their name to it. Oh, and this also violates congressional rules. While we're at it, where the hell is the "transparency"?

I could continue to pull goodies from this summary, but will instead encourage you to go have a look for yourself.