Golf carts, green cars exempt from pork ban?

During his campaign, President Obama made a commitment to eliminate wasteful spending, but after only seven weeks in office, some say he is already breaking that promise to the American public.

At the first presidential debate in Oxford, Miss., Obama declared, "[W]e need earmark reform. And when I'm president, I will go line by line to make sure that we are not spending money unwisely."

During the third presidential debate, he said, "Earmarks account for 0.5 percent of the total federal budget. There's no doubt that the system needs reform and there are a lot of screwy things that we end up spending money on, and they need to be eliminated."

However, in February, Obama passed his $787 billion stimulus aimed at jolting the declining U.S. economy. Before a joint session of Congress, Obama declared: "Now, I'm proud that we passed a recovery plan free of earmarks."

Some chuckled with amusement as the crowd withheld applause.

"There was just a roar of laughter – because there were earmarks," Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., told CNN.

According to U.S. News & World Report, the bill included the following earmarks:

• Green golf carts – tax credit toward purchase of "neighborhood electric vehicles" that use electric battery

• $300 million to buy "green" cars for federal employees

• $98 million for a "polar icebreaker" – a ship for the Coast Guard, despite its current inventory of three

• $200 million to "design and furnish" the Department of Homeland Security headquarters.

• $144 billion in mystery funds to be allocated by local and state governments – possibly including a $6 million "snowmaking and maintenance facility" at Spirit Mountain ski area in Duluth, Minn.

• $198 million in payments to Filipinos who fought for the United States during World War II

• $2 billion to battery companies for development of "advanced vehicle batteries"

• $8 billion for high speed rail projects in California and Nevada

Republicans also questioned spending items including funds to replace computers at federal agencies, inspect canals and $650 million for free coupons so people may have converter boxes before the switch to digital television. There was an additional $90 million earmarked for merely educating people about the digital transition.

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White House aides have said Obama will sign a $410 billion omnibus bill for 2009. More than 9,000 earmarks in the spending bill total an estimated $7.7 billion. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has listed many pork projects on his Twitter page, including the following:

• $200,000 for gang tattoo removal

• $188,000 for lobster institute at the University of Maine

• $5.8 million for the "Teddy Kennedy Institute for the Senate"

• $473,000 for the National Council of La Raza

• $1.8 million for pig odor research in Iowa

• $950,000 for a convention center in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

• $143,000 for a natural history museum in Las Vegas

• $238,000 for the Polynesian Voyaging Society in Honolulu

• $1.7 million "for a honey bee factory" in Weslaco, Texas

• $475,000 to build a parking garage in Provo, Utah

• $1 million for Mormon cricket, or cicada, control in Utah

• $500,000 to control fruit flies in Hawaii

• $819,000 for catfish genetics research in Alabama

• $650,000 for beaver management in North Carolina and Mississippi

• $209,000 to improve blueberry production and efficiency in Georgia

• $6.6 million for termite research in New Orleans

• $150,000 for rodeo museum in South Dakota

• $381,000 for jazz music programs in New York

• $95,000 for Hawaii public radio
  

• $632,000 for the Hungry Horse Project
  

• $118,750 to house an aircraft display in Rantoul, Ill.
  

• $380,000 for lighthouses in Maine

• $819,000 for catfish genetics research in Alabama
  

Even though Congress crafted the bill after Obama's election, the administration claims the added pork is just "unfinished business" from last year.

The White House website states, "Obama and Biden will slash earmarks to no greater than 1994 levels and ensure all spending decisions are open to the public." However, watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense reports that the omnibus pork alone already totals $7.7 billion – just less than the total of $7.8 billion in earmarks in 1994 – and the figure does not include $6.6 billion in earmarks contained in three previous spending bills Congress passed amid the bailout crisis last year.

During his three years in the Senate, Obama requested more than $860 million in earmarks. While they campaigned for president, neither Obama nor McCain asked for pet project funds. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has 16 earmarks – worth approximately $8.5 million – in the bill.

Both Republicans and Democrats contributed to the list of pet projects. According to the Taxpayers for Common Sense, the following are the 10 largest Senate co-sponsors of the 2009 omnibus pork:

1. Thad Cochran, R-Miss.: $470,857,775
2. Roger Wicker, R-Miss.: $390,993,300
3. Mary Landrieu, D-La.: $332,099,063
4. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa: $292,360,036
5. David Vitter, R-La.: $249,182,063
6. Kit Bond, R-Mo.: $248,160,991
7. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.: $235,027,932
8. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii: $225,077,157
9. Richard Shelby, R-Ala.: $219,398,750
10. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa: $199,144,486
    

The House passed the omnibus bill last week, and the Senate is expected to vote on it tomorrow. The Obama administration said the president plans to revisit "rules" for spending bills and end an "era of fiscal irresponsibility" – but only after the omnibus is signed.

"We'll change the rules going forward," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Wednesday.

As the omnibus makes its way through Congress, some from Obama's own party are beginning to speak out against the extravagant spending.

Fourteen Democratic senators expressed concern about wasteful expenses last week, and Sens. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., and Russ Feingold, D-Wis., called for Obama to veto the bill.

However, in a 63 to 32 vote, Democrats blocked amendments by McCain and Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., that would have wiped out many of the pork projects.

Now McCain and Feingold have announced they will introduce legislation to give Obama a line-item veto to block earmarks.

"So much for the promise of change. This may be – in all the years I have been coming to this floor to complain about the earmark pork barrel corruption that this system has bred, this may be probably the worst, probably the worst," McCain said.

Obama has also presented a 2010 budget summary to Congress, but detailed information about the plan will be released in April.

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