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2020 Pig Book Exposes $15.9 Billion in Pork
“The little pink book Washington doesn’t want you to read” is back! Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) released the 2020 Congressional Pig Book at a July 15 online press conference featuring Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Reps. Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), Bill Flores (R-Texas), Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.), Tom McClintock (R-Calif.), and Ralph Norman (R-S.C.). The event also featured pre-recorded messages from Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Mike Lee (R-Utah), and Rand Paul (R-Ky.), and Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.).
CAGW unearthed 274 earmarks costing taxpayers $15.9 billion in the appropriations bills funding the federal government in fiscal year (FY) 2020. While the number of earmarks decreased by 2.3 percent from the 282 earmarks in FY 2019, the total cost increased by 3.9 percent more than the $15.3 billion in FY 2019. More troublingly, the year’s $15.9 billion is only 3.6 percent less than the $16.5 billion spent in FY 2010, the last year before the earmark moratorium.
This also marks the eighth time that members of Congress violated the earmark moratorium adopted in FY 2011 in order to waste vital taxpayer dollars on parochial and non-essential pet projects.
Among the egregious examples of pork-barrel waste highlighted in the 2020 Pig Book are $2.1 billion for 22 additional, unrequested F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft, a program plagued with cost overruns and delays; $25.8 million for wild horse and burro management, the most ever earmarked; and $16 million for Save America’s Treasures grants, which over the years has funded hundreds of local museums and theaters.
News coverage of the 2020 Pig Book included stories in FOX Business, FOX News, and the Washington Examiner. CAGW President Tom Schatz also appeared on C-SPAN's Washington Journal to discuss the release of the report.
Read the 2020 Congressional Pig Book Summary and get your own copy.
Porker of the Month: Rep. Peter DeFazio
 Watch CAGW's July Porker of the Month Video
CAGW has named Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) Porker of the Month for trying to get taxpayers to foot the bill for his outrageous $1.5 trillion “highway bill.” On June 11, Rep. DeFazio introduced H.R. 2, the “Moving Forward Act.” The bill is the most expensive transportation bill ever considered by Congress by a wide margin. What’s worse, the bill would spend hundreds of billions of dollars on a radical and costly Far-Left wish list of policies that have nothing to do with transportation and infrastructure. These unrelated expenditures include $143 billion for Green New Deal initiatives, $100 billion for housing programs, and $80 billion for government-controlled broadband. For trying to play games with taxpayer dollars during an unprecedent economic and health crisis, Rep. DeFazio is the July Porker of the Month. Read more about the Porker of the Month.
CAGW Hosts Online Events with Government Officials
CAGW hosted three events on Facebook Live over the last month. On June 29, CAGW President Tom Schatz was joined by Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Michael O’Rielly to discuss what the commission has been doing to help Americans stay connected throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. On June 11, Department of Defense Chief Management Officer Lisa Hershman spoke with CAGW about the reforms her office is making to improve the effectiveness of how the Defense Department spends taxpayer dollars. Finally, on July 14, 12 members of the House and Senate made appearances at our annual Pig Book press conference to detail ways that Congress can end the waste and abuse of taxpayer funds. All of the events were streamed live on CAGW’s Facebook page. Watch the O’Rielly and Hershman events, plus the Pig Book press conference, on CAGW’s Facebook page.
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