2021 Pig Book Exposes $16.8 Billion in Pork

“The little pink book Washington doesn’t want you to read” is back! Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) released the 2021 Congressional Pig Book at an April 14 online press conference featuring Reps. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) and Kevin Hern (R-Okla.).  Pre-recorded messages were also shared from Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), and Rand Paul (R-Ky.), and Reps. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.), and Ralph Norman (R-S.C.).

CAGW unearthed 285 earmarks costing taxpayers $16.8 billion in the appropriations bills funding the federal government in fiscal year (FY) 2021. The number of earmarks increased by 4 percent over the 274 earmarks in FY 2020, while the total cost increased by 5.7 percent from the $15.9 billion in FY 2020. More troublingly, the $16.8 billion is 1.8 percent higher than the $16.5 billion spent in FY 2010, the last year before the earmark moratorium. Since the first Pig Book was issued in 1991, CAGW has uncovered 111,702 earmarks costing taxpayers $392.5 billion.

This also marks the ninth 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 2021 Pig Book are $1.7 billion for 17 additional, unrequested F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft, a program plagued with cost overruns and delays; a record $25 million for Save America’s Treasures grants; and a record $19.7 million for the East-West Center, requested by Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii).

CAGW President Tom Schatz’s op-ed on the Pig Book appeared in The Hill on the morning following the report’s release.

Read the 2021 Congressional Pig Book Summary and get your own copy.

Porker of the Month:  Rep. Mike Rogers

CAGW named Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) Porker of the Month for leading the charge to convince House Republicans to bring back wasteful pork-barrel earmarks.  Shortly after House Democrats voted to reinstate earmarks, the House Republican Conference approved Rep. Rogers’ resolution to change House Republican Conference rules to remove the moratorium on earmarks, which had been in place since  2011.  It is hypocritical and fiscally irresponsible for Republicans to agree to restore the most costly, corrupt, and inequitable practice in the history of Congress.  For leading his colleagues back into the Washington swamp, Rep. Mike Rogers in the April Porker of the Month.  Read more about the Porker of the Month.

CCAGW Launches Campaign to Stop Earmarks

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) launched a grassroots campaign to end the return of pork-barrel earmarks this month. The push came in response to House and Senate Democrats and House Republicans agreeing to lift the moratorium on wasteful, self-serving earmarks that has been in place since 2011. Lifting the moratorium will lead to an avalanche of earmarks that would waste taxpayer dollars on pet special interest projects and cause federal spending to explode. To date, the campaign has delivered more than 9,000 constituent e-mails to House and Senate members opposing the return of earmarks. Tell your elected officials to oppose efforts to restore wasteful and corruptive earmarks.