Legislation & Issues
Mar 07 2012
The Pork Report
How Washington politicians, bureaucrats, and lobbyists are spending your tax dollars
Today’s edition identifies at least $70,224,110 in wasteful Washington spending
$1 million lottery winner who bought a new home and car receiving food stamps; “I thought that they would cut me off, but since they didn’t, I thought maybe it was okay because I’m not working.” click here to read more
Part of an $11 million grant intended to provide business attire to 400 low-income job-seekers helped only two people click here to read more
Congressional staff receive pay bonuses click here to read more
Detroit paying city employees overtime to go on a spending spree with federal cash; The city has accumulated nearly $70 million in unspent community development and if it isn’t spent, the city risks not get as much money in future years click here to read more
Party in the USDA: Agriculture Secretary kicks off department’s 150th anniversary the commemoration and USDA field offices across the country will celebrate all year click here to read more
Massachusetts anti-poverty agency misspent up to $224,110 in federal grants, including pay to top exec who spent afternoons playing video poker and card games at casino click here to read more
USDA rural development grant paying for a gateway arch at the entry of an Oregon town with less than 10,000 residents click here to read more
Naked Cow Dairy receives USDA grant to promote its cheese even though it doesn’t even have the equipment to make cheese on a commercial scale click here to read more
Federal funds pay to give store fronts and building facades in Texas a facelift click here to read more
Mar 05 2012
The Pork Report
How Washington politicians, bureaucrats, and lobbyists are spending your tax dollars
Today’s edition identifies at least $1,835,700 in wasteful Washington spending
While in jail, murderer collected $30,000 in unemployment benefits, which was used to benefit a criminal gang click here to read more
Federal agencies study relationship breakups in the Facebook era click here to read more
A new $750,000 soccer field being built for detainees at Camp 6 in Guantanamo; The detainees will now have three recreation facilities click here to read more
NASA studies menu options for trips to Mars; Participants will get an all-expenses paid trip to Hawaii and $5,000 click here to read more
Scarcely used Florida airport to spend $575,000 of federal funds to relocate alligators and scare away birds click here to read more
USDA grant to promote alpaca products click here to read more
USDA grant to advertise Idaho potatoes click here to read more
Audit of Wisconsin job training agency finds spending irregularities, including travel, reimbursement, procurement and cash control; CEO resigns and then hired back as a consultant click here to read more
Federal health funds spent on a campaign-style flier promoting mayor seeking re-election weeks before his name appeared on the ballot; Mayor admits “it was flashy and high-quality” but claims “if it got one person (out of depression) or thinking about not committing suicide, then it did its job.” click here to read more
About a third of federal grants steered to a government contractor in Connecticut used to fund projects marred by unnecessary, shoddy or incomplete lead-reduction work click here to read more
Feb 21 2012
The Pork Report
How Washington politicians, bureaucrats, and lobbyists are spending your tax dollars
Today’s edition identifies at least $1,625,115,000 in wasteful Washington spending
The IRS spending up to $15 million on PR to try to improve its image with taxpayers click here to read more
NASA employees who approve their own travel charged over half-a-million dollars on government travel cards in a little over a year with no review to ensure the costs were reasonable or allowable click here to read more
$1.6 billion spent to maintain unneeded federal property annually click here to read more
C is for consultant: Colorado spent 35 percent, or $9.4 million, of the $26.6 million that came to the state from the U.S. Department of Education in the past two years on consultants rather than classrooms click here to read more
Alabama director of federal programs awarded federal stimulus grants to clients of her husband’s firm; Audit finds discrepancies in the scoring of the grant applications, including missing score cards click here to read more
Illinois job-training program run by an administrator who was fired for mismanagement but has returned to work with back pay and a raise under federal investigation click here to read more
Millions of jobless file for disability when unemployment benefits run out click here to read more
National Science Foundation spends $705,000 to research whether or not stressed out birds make good parents click here to read more
More than $10,000 of the federal funds for security at the Democratic National Convention in North Carolina spent on travel, including a trip to Tampa, Florida click here to read more
Feb 15 2012
The Pork Report
How Washington politicians, bureaucrats, and lobbyists are spending your tax dollars
Today’s edition identifies at least $3,133,000 in wasteful Washington spending
Food stamps used to pay for beer, cigarettes, cell phone bills and even cars click here to read more
Woman convicted of fraud for receiving food stamps she was not financially eligible for continued to receive aid while in jail and even after she was released; “They’re charging me with fraud… and then they continue to give me more benefits.” click here to read more
“Prom Week” video game funded by the National Science Foundation; Simulation games is based upon studies of social interactions of characters in movies and television shows click here to read more
National Science Foundation studies why Vermonters talk kinda funny click here to read more
USDA paying to market whiskey and wine in Nebraska click here to read more
USDA grant will establish tasting panels for New Jersey wines click here to read more
USDA pays the Idaho Firearms and Accessories Manufacturer’s Association to explore economic opportunities for firearms related industries in the state click here to read more
Wisconsin airport greatly exaggerated the number of flights it handled to get federal grant money click here to read more
Politically connected group accused of profiting off of federal funds intended to assist poor farmers, including paying ghost employees click here to read more
Feb 14 2012
The Pork Report
How Washington politicians, bureaucrats, and lobbyists are spending your tax dollars
Today’s edition identifies at least $8,169,000 in wasteful Washington spending
National Science Foundation research on-line dating profiles to spot liars; Weight is the most frequent fib click here to read more
Senate barber shop receives a $300,000 taxpayer bailout click here to read more
John Edwards still owes taxpayers $2.1 million for federal funds improperly received after dropping out of the race for president in 2008, yet his campaign spent $836,712 last year on airfare, hotels, phones and other expenses click here to read more
With the city going broke, Los Angeles is spending $489,000 in federal stimulus funds to upgrade the engines in its million dollar yacht click here to read more
More than a quarter of a million dollars in stimulus money was spent in Georgia on a mobile medical unit that spends most of the year parked click here to read more
Saginaw, Michigan misspent $5 million of federal housing funds over the past decade, including $500,000 to purchase the county fairgrounds and $142,000 for 185 refrigerators and 185 ranges that it could not document the need for click here to read more
Feb 09 2012
The Pork Report
How Washington politicians, bureaucrats, and lobbyists are spending your tax dollars
Today’s edition identifies at least $1,600,300,000 in wasteful Washington spending
Sexy and they know it: Multiple federal agencies study the sex appeal of female fruit flies click here to read more
GOPork: Republican Senators want to bring back pork barrel spending click here to read more
Federal government spent $1.6 billion to provide “free” cell phone service; Phones being give to many who don’t qualify for the handout and hundreds of thousands of those who do qualify have more than one phone click here to read more
Federal funds paid $200 a square foot to renovate a house which was then sold at a loss to taxpayers click here to read more
Federal funds pay to develop a marketing plan to increase sales and awareness of New York potato chips click here to read more
“Bottle ready” project: Federal funds pay to promote Alabama wines click here to read more
Federal tax credits pay to renovate aging ballroom in Iowa; “The challenge with the ballroom is finding a use for it.” says developer click here to read more
Property intended to be the location of a $1 billion “shovel ready” stimulus clean-coal project earmark sold off at a loss; Project now in limbo but holding onto its taxpayer cash click here to read more
Feb 08 2012
The Pork Report
How Washington politicians, bureaucrats, and lobbyists are spending your tax dollars
Today’s edition identifies at least $416,930,000 in wasteful Washington spending
Washington politicians steered more than $300 million in earmarks to projects near their own property or to the employers of family members click here to read more
Navy paying $15 a gallon for “green” gasoline click here to read more
Inmates receiving food stamps; Some food stamp recipients receiving benefits in multiple states click here to read more
NIH spending $115.9 million on conference and travel services click here to read more
Job training agency spent more than $1 million of federal funds to purchase nearly 1,000 computers that are sitting unused in storage click here to read more
Federal transportation funds pay for a visitor center at the St. Louis Museum of Transportation click here to read more
USDA gives $120,000 grant to a goat and cheese-making operation click here to read more
More than half-a-million dollars in federal funds for a visitors center in New York has remained unspent for seven years click here to read more
Feb 06 2012
The Pork Report
How Washington politicians, bureaucrats, and lobbyists are spending your tax dollars
Today’s edition identifies at least $1,584,300 in wasteful Washington spending
Washington, DC public employees collected $800,000 in fraudulent unemployment claims click here to read more
Federal Transit Administration paying for furniture, artwork, and renovations for private bus company’s offices; Bids for contracts were rigged and steered to assistant general manager’s wife click here to read more
The Federal Housing Administration offering taxpayer backed mortgages on luxury homes, putting taxpayers on the hook for more risky housing deals click here to read more
Postal Regulatory Commission exec’s junkets raise questions; 11 overseas trips plus attendance at conferences with little, if anything, to do with the postal service click here to read more
Welfare for winos: New York wineries and vineyards receive nearly half-a-million dollars to market and distribute wine and develop new marketing strategies click here to read more
Federal stimulus funds pay for restoration of fountain on a college campus click here to read more
Feb 02 2012
The Pork Report
How Washington politicians, bureaucrats, and lobbyists are spending your tax dollars
Today’s edition identifies at least $119,822,700 in wasteful Washington spending
The Port of Los Angeles, which has received $23.5 million in federal stimulus money, spent almost $200,000 on a party featuring dancers, nearly 200 bottles of wine, and even miniature Oscars click here to read more
Federal funds intended to keep “at-risk” youths in Newark off the streets spent on “suspicious payments” including taking visitors from Bermuda to restaurants, the movies, shopping trips, bowling, and a professional basketball game click here to read more
Alaska residents fear eminent domain may be used to take away their homes and property to build the Bridge to Nowhere click here to read more
Prisoners in Maryland had access to Social Security numbers which they used to entered claims for payments from physicians from Medicaid click here to read more
IRS sends a prisoner who filed a bogus tax return a refund check for $327,456 to correctional facility click here to read more
Earmarks to make a comeback? Bipartisan agreement among Washington politicians for a return to pork barrel politics click here to read more
Making bus shelters in Oregon town more decorative and artistic increases the cost 35 percent; “The nicer they are makes more people want to use public transportation,” says assistant city manager click here to read more
Battery manufacturer which received more than $118 million in stimulus funds from the Department of Energy has file for bankruptcy click here to read more
Developer receivers a $50,000 federal grant to pay for renovation of a Mississippi shopping center click here to read more
More than $1 million will be spent to preserve an abandoned train station; The last passenger train runs ended in 1968 click here to read more
Jan 26 2012
The Pork Report
How Washington politicians, bureaucrats, and lobbyists are spending your tax dollars
Today’s edition identifies at least $375,014,500 in wasteful Washington spending
Congress’s gift shops losing money click here to read more
Grant recipients charged the EPA for her family’s personal cellphone plan and rent for her own trailer click here to read more
A single government department has 700 different cell phone plans click here to read more
Attorney charged the Department of Housing and Urban Development $1,417 for attending a party and more than $300 an hour for apparently doing nothing click here to read more
Detroit mismanaged tens of millions of federal dollars intended to aid the poor, including wasting nearly $200,000 on office furniture and over $12 million on questionable salaries click here to read more
Solar power company that received millions of dollars in government loans and tax breaks lays off employees click here to read more
A secure, interoperable radio network that the Department of Justice has been working on for more than a decade and that has cost the agency $356 million headed for failure, leaving the agency with obsolete radio equipment that doesn’t communicate well with other radio systems which could pose a threat to public safety click here to read more
Wild Wines of Jacksonville and Southern Oregon Winery Association receive federal business development assistance from USDA click here to read more