Congress' nightmare: CAGW Pig Book reveals federal spendthrifts

Citizens Against Government Waste came up with this catchy mascot and slogan to raise awareness of federal spendthrifts.This morning taxpayer watchdog groups spoke from the National Press Club about government spending; the program aired on C-SPAN. I was about to catch David Williams’ remarks when the Florida storms killed our power for the umpteenth time. Williams, policy vice-president for Citizens Against Government Waste, puts the organization’s annual Pig Book together. Also on the program was Tom Schatz, CAGW president. CAGW also had the group’s official mascot, a large pink pig character, on hand and a new slogan, ‘Where’s Pigfoot?’ will hopefully draw attention to ongoing offenses committed by spendthrifts in the US Congress.

CAGW said, “The 2009 Pig Book identified 10,160 projects at a cost of $19.6 billion in the 12 Appropriations Acts for fiscal 2009. A pork project is a line-item in an appropriations bill that designates tax dollars for a specific purpose in circumvention of established budgetary procedures.” To qualify as pork, an item must satisfy at least 2 of 7 criteria:

Click to read more ...

Judicial Watch finds Pelosi uses military as air taxi; $22,000 per hour for luxury jet

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced Tuesday that it has obtained documents from the Department of Defense (DOD) detailing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's multiple requests for military air travel. [Ed. Note: The Republican National Congressional Committee said the military "luxury jet" costs taxpayers $22,000 per hour. Watch the video below for more on Pelosi's first 100 days after the Democrats regained control of Congress almost three years ago.]

The documents, obtained by Judicial Watch through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), include internal DOD email correspondence detailing attempts by DOD staff to accommodate Pelosi's numerous requests for military escorts and military aircraft as well as the speaker's last minute cancellations and changes. The following are a few highlights from the documents; links to the docs are available on the JW website:

Click to read more ...