CL – Yes Cochran brings in a lot of ‘pork’, but that doesn’t make it ‘gov’t waste’
The group Citizens Against Government Waste released its annual critique of congressional spending and, predictably, once again takes U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran to task over $490 million in federal appropriations that it terms “pork.”
Yet an examination of the $490 million shows that Cochran procured funding for research at Mississippi universities and colleges, defense projects at Mississippi defense plants, energy and environmental research, medical research, an applied research incubator for historically black colleges and universities, funding for wildlife preservation and improvements in the shrimping industry, multiple state libraries and a host of other projects beneficial to his constituents.
The annual “Pig Book” purports to target government waste. What is missing from most of the allegations of waste is a clear indication that the appropriations in question actually represented “waste” as opposed to the congressional responsibility to direct federal spending priorities.
Clarion-Ledger
4/17/10
Magnolia Tribune
