Top 10 Outrageous Earmarks
Time
December 8, 2008
1. $2 Million for Children's Wooden Arrow Makers
By Katie Rooney
The passage of the economic bailout bill in October 2008 was viewed as a necessary evil by many reluctant politicians on both the left and the right, but the subsequent revelation of earmarks legislators stuffed in it at the last second only gave them more reservations. Under this particular provision, proposed by Oregon Sens. Democrat Ron Wyden and Republican Gordon Smith, manufacturers of certain wooden arrows designed for use by children would get an exception from an excise tax, which could save them up to $2 million over 10 years. The tax earmark was scarcely noticed during the Senate debate over the bill, but was heavily criticized by the media after it passed. Then-presidential candidate McCain, asked on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" why he voted for a bill that included earmarks such as this that he frequently denounced and vowed to veto as president, said he had to because the country is "on the brink of economic disaster." Obama — who hadn't made slashing earmarks as big a part of his campaign — was able to get by with just saying he voted for an imperfect bill.
Chris Warren / Loop Images /
2. $1.9 million for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service
By Randy James
It's been dubbed the "Monument to Me" — a planned $30 million academic center supported by longtime New York Rep. Charles Rangel and named, not so surprisingly, for Rep. Charles Rangel. The Harlem Democrat raised hackles after securing a $1.9 million earmark for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at the City College of New York. When a more junior colleague objected to the idea of lawmakers sponsoring things bearing their own names, the 78-year-old Congressman responded "I would have a problem if you did it, because I don't think that you've been around long enough...." Rangel ruffled more feathers by reportedly soliciting donations for the center from companies with business before the powerful Ways and Means Committee — which he chairs. He also stands accused of working to preserve a tax shelter for an oil drilling company whose chief executive pledged $1 million to the center; Rangel says his support for the legislation had nothing to do with the company or its executive's pledge. It hasn't helped Rangel's case that he's been caught up in a number of ethical and legal tangles in recent months, including his failure to report $75,000 in rental income from a villa in the Dominican Republican, alleged violations of New York regulations on rent-stabilized apartments, and reports of inappropriately taking a tax break on a home in Washington, D.C. Rangel has acknowledged some oversights but insisted he's "done nothing morally wrong," and welcomed a House ethics investigation that's expected to wrap up early in 2009. But it seems his patience for scrutiny into the subject has a limit: pressed by a reporter on his fundraising tactics for the academic center, Rangel responded, "I really think you're being annoying now."
3. $1 Million for New York Woodstock Museum
By Katie Rooney
John McCain made sure that his then-presidential rival Hillary Clinton paid for proposing this failed earmark as part of the FY 2008 health and education spending bill. Clinton and fellow New York Sen. Charles Schumer requested a million bucks to put towards a project in their state, backed by a major Democratic Party contributor, commemorating the 1969 music festival. McCain made the earmark one of his talking points during the primary season, using it against Clinton in a Republican debate, then later in a campaign TV ad. On the stump, he called it "a shining example of what's wrong with Washington on pork-barrel, out-of-control spending." Conservatives went further, calling it a hippie museum and taxpayer-funded LSD flashback, while others just didn't want their constituents to foot the bill. The measure was ultimately defeated in the Senate 52-42 in a vote that many said reeked of presidential politics. Clinton mostly changed the subject when asked about the spending, while Schumer defended it, saying it would help create jobs in upstate New York.
4. $192 Million for U.S. Territories' Rum Industries
By Katie Rooney
Another product of the pork-stuffed economic bailout bill, this earmark slipped into the Senate version of the legislation renews an expired rebate against excise taxes charged on rum imported from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands until the end of 2009. The provision was mocked during a subsequent debate in the House by Democrat Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, saying, "So we got tax breaks for rum. You've got it right. R-U-M." But it still passed — and the criticism that followed in the media fired up lobbyists from Bacardi and Captain Morgan, the two most popular rum brands in the U.S., who said they aren't seeing any of this money. The $192 million in tax cuts mostly go to the two territories to help them build up their economies and, in theory, keep them from needing larger financial handouts from the mainland. But then again, this practice isn't new. For decades, Congress has been giving the two territories this precise tax cut. And if it hadn't been part of this controversial bailout this time around, it might have once again gone unnoticed.
5. $188,000 for the Lobster Institute at the University of Maine
By Randy James
Maine's lobster industry generated close to $300 million in 2006, according to its trade group. But the University of Maine's Lobster Institute still deserves taxpayer funding, according to the state's lawmakers. Maine's two Republican Senators and Rep. Thomas Allen, a Democrat, lined up $188,000 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to launch the Lobster Health Coalition at the institute, whose other accomplishments include developing a live Internet "Lobster Cam" and devising lobster treats for dogs, called "Bisque-its." Critics haven't hesitated to broil the government's support for the organization: "This is what the American taxpayer is paying for — the 'Lobster Institute for Better Dog Food,'" railed David Williams of Citizens Against Government Waste, a budget watchdog group. "This is ridiculous." But defenders say lobster health matters is vitally important to the area's economy. "Lobsters get sick just like any other animal," institute director Robert Bayer told a local newspaper. "We want to know what those health issues are and how we can mitigate them." Sen. Olympia Snowe said the lobster industry is vital to her home state of Maine, but also pointed out she "did not in fact make this specific request."
Stetson Freeman / The Christian Science Monitor / Getty
6. $98,000 to Develop a Walking Tour of Boydton, Virginia
By Randy James
Congress spent more than $200 per resident to help develop a historic walking tour of the tiny southern Virginia town of Boydton, not even one square mile in size. The tour takes visitors to a tavern from 1790, a Greek Revival Courthouse, and "one of the only oval, mile-long race tracks of the day." This piece of not-exactly-essential-spending was secured in a Department of Housing and Urban Development bill by Republican Rep. Virgil Goode — the same lawmaker who lectured late last year that "federal budget spending is too much overall and Congress members should set an example by not spending too much."
7. $50,000 for the National Mule and Packers Museum in Bishop, California
By Randy James
America's pioneers didn't settle the west alone — they relied on the help of mules. So, argued California Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon, it's only natural that $50,000 in federal money help establish a museum honoring the pack animals. "They could go 30 miles a day where wagon trains could only go about five. They are an integral part of the development of this country," the Republican said on the House floor, pleading for support for the earmark backing the National Mule and Packers Museum. Even today, he also noted, the U.S. Army uses mules "on special assignments" in Afghanistan. According to its Web site, the museum will explore mules' role aiding early explorers and surveyors in Bishop, a small town abutting the Sierra Nevada mountains known as "the mule capital of the world" for its week-long "Mule Days" celebration that draws some 30,000 people, and 700 mules. But the earmark in a Housing and Urban Development bill was quickly deemed a gross example of unnecessary spending. Said Arizona Rep. Jeff Flake, a frequent earmark foe: "I would simply say it is time for the American taxpayer to say 'whoa' and stand up for fiscal sanity and actually stop the practice of earmarking like we are doing."
8. $583,000 for the Montana World Trade Center
By Randy James
Montana may not seem like one of the nation's bustling centers of global commerce, but that didn't stop the state's sole U.S. Representative, Republican Denny Rehberg, from securing $583,000 for the Montana World Trade Center. The center, run by the University of Montana, works to help state industry promote its wheat, chemicals, industrial machinery and other exports. "The Montana World Trade Center has been a valuable resource for local businesses trying to sell their goods internationally," Rehberg said in a press release. "These funds will help ensure the Trade Center can continue to hold trade missions as well as allow them to create new programs to expand their ability to assist Montana businesses." Headquartered in Missoula, population 64,000, the center clearly has grand ambitions — its Web site can be read in five languages, and its logo includes a stack of hundred-dollar bills in front of a globe. Not a bad goal for a place with less than a third the foreign exports of tiny Delaware.
9. $460,752 for Beer Ingredient
By Katie Rooney
Constituents in the Northwest must really like their beer. Well, at least enough that two representatives and four senators from Washington and Oregon — which included members from both parties — were able to get more than four hundred grand in the FY 2008 agriculture appropriations bill for hops, a main ingredient in the alcoholic beverage. The legislators contend that hops is a vital piece of the economy in their region — Oregon produces approximately 17% of the U.S. market share. The federal earmark mostly goes to the Northwest Hops Research program, allowing experts to investigate "critical issues" in the industry. Another plus: The research is also expected to produce new hop varieties that are disease and pest resistant.
10. $150,000 for "Rat Island"
By Katie Rooney
There's no question that outgoing GOP Sen. Ted Stevens has a rat problem up north — and he made sure federal dollars were enlisted to help clean it up. The Alaska Senator was able to pass a $150,000 earmark in the FY 2008 agriculture appropriation legislation in order to improve rodent control on the Aleutian Islands to help the seabirds whose nesting habitats have been disrupted. The so-called Rat Island is home to thousands of Norway rats that arrived there before 1780 due to a Japanese shipwreck. Since then they've multiplied, spread to at least 16 other islands in the region and been impossible to exterminate. The landscape there is covered with rat burrows, rat trails, rat droppings and chewed vegetation, and certain plants are all but gone.
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