Earmark-laden bill a line in the sand for pork-barrel politics
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Earmarks benefitting Arizona
The Arizona Republic
The $410 billion omnibus spending bill passed by the House and pending in the Senate includes at least $216.3 million in Arizona-related earmarks, according to the nonpartisan group Taxpayers for Common Sense.
Because the legislation was put together last year, it includes earmarks from former Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz. Some earmarks also are requested by the White House and, in rare instances, by lawmakers who make requests for states other than their own.
The Arizona projects, and the requesting party, include:
• ARS Southwest Watershed Research Center, Tucson, $254,000 (Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz.).
• Pima County Community College Entrepreneurial Education and Development, $147,386 (Giffords).
• Tucson Modern Streetcar/Light Rail Transit System, $2 million (Giffords, Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz.).
• Phoenix to Tucson Commuter Rail Study, $3.5 million (Giffords, Grijalva, Rep. Harry Mitchell, D-Ariz.).
• Arizona Forest Highway 39 and General Hitchcock Highway (Catalina Highway), Pima County, $1.6 million (Giffords).
• Tohono O'odham Nation infrastructure-roads improvement, Sells, $950,000 (Grijalva).
• Tohono O'odham Nation for facilities and equipment, Sells, $95,000 (Grijalva).
• Pascua Yaqui, $96,000 (Grijalva).
• Pima County (Tres Rios Del North), $249,000 (Giffords, White House).
• Esperanza en Escalante for building improvements, construction and expansion, Tucson, $166,250 (Giffords).
• University of Arizona for instruction and support to disabled veterans, Tucson, $238,000 (Grijalva).
• University of Arizona for the Integrative Medicine in Residency Program, Tucson, $476,000 (Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa).*
• Catholic Community Services of Southern Arizona Domestic Violence Center, Tucson, $285,000 (Giffords).
• JobPath for a nurse training program, Tucson, $190,000 (Giffords, Grijalva).
• Tucson police finger imaging upgrade system, $200,000 (Giffords, Grijalva).
• Pima County Sheriff's Office wireless integrated network, $200,000 (Giffords, Rep. Ed Pastor, D-Ariz.).
• Tucson meth education program, $500,000 (Giffords, Grijalva).
• Tucson Drainage Area, $400,000 (Giffords, Grijalva, Pastor).
• Interstate 10 West Corridor Alternative Analysis, $475,000 (Pastor).
• Tubac COBRA Communications Initiative, $250,000 (Grijalva).
• Colorado River Basin, Central Arizona Project, $25.3 million (Grijalva).
• Southern Arizona Water Rights Settlement Act Project, $2.7 million (White House).
• Glendale Historic Entryway, $200,000 (Pastor).
• Upper San Pedro River Monitoring and Reporting, $295,000 (Giffords).
• Buckskin Sanitary District Wastewater Facilities Improvements, $500,000 (Grijalva).
• Surprise Water Treatment Improvements, $500,000 (Pastor, Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.).
• Pascua Yaqui Tribe Master Drainage Plan, $700,000 (Pastor).
• International Arid Lands Consortium, $401,000 (Grijalva, Pastor).
• Chicanos Por La Causa for a business incubator, $245,643 (Pastor).
• Cochise County Community College Entrepreneurial Education and Development, $49,129 (Giffords).
• Navajo Nation Department of Information Technology for Connect Navajo, $122,821 (Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M).*
• Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport for a high-speed taxiway connector, $950,000 (Pastor).
• Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport for Taxiway R reconstruction, $1.9 million (Pastor).
• Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport for Taxiway B expansion, $950,000 (Mitchell).
• Central Mesa Corridor Alternatives Analysis, $237,500 (Mitchell).
• Tempe South Corridor Alternatives Analysis, $237,500 (Mitchell).
• South Mountain Circulator Bus, $950,000 (Pastor).
• Central Phoenix/East Valley Light Rail, $91.8 million (Pastor, Mitchell, White House).
• Mountain Links BRT, Flagstaff, $5.6 million (White House).
• Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge, $4.2 million (Kyl).
• Sage Brush Road Project, Navajo Mountain Chapter, $139,650 (former Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz.).
• Interstate 10 Improvements Project, Interstate 8 to Picacho Peak, $95,000 (Renzi).
• Obed Bridge Replacement, Navajo County, $190,000 (Renzi).
• Pinetop-Lakeside Bridge Widening Project, $190,000 (Renzi).
• Chicanos Por La Causa for equipment furnishings and improvements for a community campus, Phoenix, $380,000 (Pastor).
• Willcox construction of a senior-care center, $95,000 (Giffords).
• The Salvation Army for community center expansion, Phoenix, $380,000 (Pastor).
• Mammoth expansion of a community center, $142,500 (Renzi).
• Jobs for Arizona's Graduates for dropout prevention and after-school programs, Scottsdale (Grijalva).
• Maricopa County Community College District for the bilingual nursing program at Gateway South Mountain Community College, Tempe, $285,000 (Pastor).
• Mesa Community College for the online registered nurse certification program, $119,000 (Mitchell).
• Northern Arizona University for student support services and community outreach programs, Yuma, $128,000 (Grijalva).
• Chiricahua Community Health Centers Inc. for facilities and equipment, Douglas, $343,000 (Giffords).
• Northern Cochise Community Hospital Inc. for facilities and equipment, Willcox, $95,000 (Giffords).
• Phoenix Children's Hospital for facilities and equipment, Phoenix, $143,000 (Pastor).
• St. Joseph's Hospital for facilities and equipment, Phoenix, $119,000 (Pastor).
• Translational Genomics Research Institute for facilities and equipment, Phoenix, $285,000 (Pastor).
• Valley Interfaith Project for skills training and career upgrades, Phoenix, $476,000 (Mitchell).
• Mesa's East Valley Rapid Crime Analysis, $275,000 (Mitchell).
• Phoenix Police Officer Communications Network, $500,000 (Pastor).
• Tempe public safety communications interoperability, $275,000 (Mitchell).
• Pinal County Sheriff's Office meth enforcement program, $150,000 (Renzi).
• San Carlos Apache Tribal Police meth enforcement project, $350,000 (Renzi).
• Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Arizona meth project, $1 million (Mitchell, Pastor).
• Operation QT after-school program, Paradise Valley, $550,000 (Pastor).
• Agua Fria River Trilby Wash, $191,000 (Kyl).
• Little Colorado River Watershed, $229,000 (Renzi, Kyl).
• Rio Salado Oeste, Salt River, $1.4 million (Mitchell, Pastor).
• Va Shly'Ay Akimel Salt River restoration, $629,000 (Mitchell, Pastor, White House).
• Nogales Wash, $2.5 million (Grijalva, Pastor, Kyl).
• Rio de Fug, Flagstaff, $1.5 million (Pastor, Renzi, Kyl).
• Tres Rios, $9.6 million (Mitchell, Pastor, Kyl).
• Alamo Lake, $1.4 million (Army Corps of Engineers).
• Army Corps of Engineers inspection of completed works, $93,000
• Painted Rock Dam, $1.1 million (Army Corps of Engineers).
• Scheduling reservoir operations, $36,000 (Army Corps of Engineers).
• Whitlow Ranch Dam, $159,000 (Army Corps of Engineers).
• Ak-Chin Water Rights Settlement Act Project, $9.7 million (White House).
• Arizona Water Rights Settlement Act, $484,000 (Kyl).
• Colorado River front work and levee system, $2.2 million (Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif.; Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; White House).*
• Northern Arizona investigations program, $293,000 (White House).
• Phoenix Metropolitan Water Reuse Project, $250,000 (Pastor, White House).
• Salt River Project, $558,000 (White House).
• San Carlos Apache Tribe Water Settlement Act, $298,000 (White House).
• South/Central Arizona Investigations Program (Bureau of Reclamation), $658,000 (White House).
• Casa Grande Water Recycling Project, $54,000 (Giffords, Pastor).
• Yuma-area Bureau of Reclamation projects, $21.3 million (White House).
• Yuma East Wetlands, $1.5 million (Grijalva, Pastor, Kyl).
• Water-to-water heat pump chillers, Phoenix Children's, $1.9 million (Pastor).
• Ace program at Maricopa County community colleges, $951,500 (Pastor).
* No Arizona lawmakers joined in making the request.
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The Senate is getting ready to pass a giant spending bill stuffed with congressional pet projects that critics decry as unnecessary pork.
But the bill could be a last gasp for Capitol Hill's entrenched earmark culture if President Barack Obama follows through with a campaign commitment to crack down on the free-spending practice that exploded in the 1990s under a Republican-controlled Congress.
Earmark reformers are skeptical, though. They point to stiff resistance from Democratic leaders and Obama's reluctance to veto the pending $410 billion legislation as signs that business will continue as usual. The 8,570 earmarks in the bill represent $7.7 billion, according to the nonpartisan group Taxpayers for Common Sense.
Action on the bill, which wraps together nine spending measures that fund the operating budgets of much of the executive branch, was postponed in the Senate on Thursday night. The House has approved the legislation, and the Senate is expected to vote next week.
"I hope that they will want to fix this broken process and corrupt system," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Obama's presidential opponent and an outspoken earmark foe. "I have spoken to the vice president, and I have spoken to the president about efforts we can make together to try to fix it. The biggest hurdle is the Democrats and the Republicans in Congress who love this corrupt practice."
Earmarking in and of itself is not corrupt, although McCain and other critics point to a series of earmark-related scandals that resulted in the prosecution of Congress members. But it does give powerful lawmakers a way to fund projects that they deem priorities without going through the normal appropriations procedure. Some high-powered lobbyists actively seek earmarks for clients, and the lack of public scrutiny fuels fears of shady deals.
Most lawmakers don't share McCain's sentiment that the earmarks inevitably breed corruption and waste. They say that occasional abuses such as Alaska's notorious "Bridge to Nowhere" are anomalies and that most earmarks serve constituents well. And many appropriators view the anti-earmark crusade as a thinly veiled power play to wrest away their traditional ability to direct federal spending.
"An earmark's worth is in the eye of the beholder," said Rep. Ed Pastor, D-Ariz., a member of the influential House Appropriations Committee whose name is attached to assorted omnibus earmarks worth more than $128.5 million.
"Ninety-eight percent of the budget and projects are determined by the president; 2 percent are determined by the entire Congress, both the Senate and the House. For all practical purposes, most of the earmarks are going to cities, towns, states or hospitals and educational institutions."
Pastor pointed to the upgraded control tower at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport as a vital local project that started as an earmark. The recently opened Metro light rail began with an earmark to study its feasibility, he said.
The spending bill under consideration includes a Pastor-supported expenditure of $91.8 million to expand the system.
Some reformers say their concerns are often as much or more about the behind-the-scenes wheeling and dealing and lack of review as with the actual projects. They question why some states should trump others simply because their well-positioned elected representatives can manipulate the appropriations spigots.
"There is certainly no guarantee that we're spending money wisely or appropriately or on the most critical projects. It's a political-patronage system rather than a meritocracy," said Steve Ellis, Taxpayers for Common Sense vice president.
For his part, Obama never seemed to share McCain's intense level of passion about earmarks, but he has agreed that the process needs reform. And he vocally opposed earmarks in the recently passed economic-stimulus package.
Still, administration officials have backed off from confronting Congress about the omnibus bill, which is needed to keep the government running and is left over from 2008, before Obama took office.
"This is last year's business. We just need to move on," Peter Orszag, Obama's budget director, said Sunday on ABC's "This Week With George Stephanopoulos."
Even the suggestion that Obama still wants to pursue earmark reform prompted pushback from a top House Democrat.
"I don't think the White House has the ability to tell us what to do," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., defiantly told reporters this week.
After the bill went to the Senate floor on Monday, Senator McCain hit the roof and quoted Candidate Obama's words from a debate last fall: "We need earmark reform and when I'm president, I will go line by line to make sure we're not spending money unwisely." McCain then added, "That's the quote, the promise the president of the United States made to the American people in a debate with me in Oxford, Mississippi. So what is brought to the floor today—9,000 earmarks.... So much for change."
Tittymouse speaks with head up ass...
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