Inouye defends spending projects
By Dennis Camire
Advertiser Washington Bureau
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WASHINGTON — While Congress reduced special projects in this year's spending bills, a government watchdog group is again citing Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawai'i, as the top pork-barrel politician for sending almost $320 million in defense projects to his state this year.
But Inouye, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, had a different view.
"Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder — so, too, is pork," Inouye said in a written statement.
Inouye criticized the group, Citizens Against Government Waste, for branding projects as pork if the administration does not request them. The executive branch of government, Inouye said, does not have "exclusive authority" on what is important or necessary.
"If that were the case, there would be no need for Congress, as the legislative branch would be reduced to a rubber stamp for the White House," he said. "I can justify every project I submit, and I consider them to be beef rather than pork."
The group will release its annual "2007 Congressional Pig Book" today, noting that it contains projects from only two annual appropriations bills — defense and homeland security — since the House and Senate adopted a ban on targeted "earmark" spending projects for the rest of the federal budget.
While the book is smaller than in previous years, it still contains 2,658 projects costing $13.2 billion.
David Williams, vice president for policy at Citizens Against Government Waste, said the projects were noted because they were not requested by the Pentagon.
"Our position is and our philosophy is that if the Pentagon wants things and if they see a need to build up forces and infrastructure in Hawai'i, they will request funding for it and it will go through the proper budgetary channels," he said.
The largest Hawai'i project that the group pointed out was a $20 million Army program for "land buffers" along its property lines, reducing training restrictions and preventing nearby development. The program also aimed to meet Endangered Species Act requirements and avoid future listings of endangered species.
"Thanks to programs like (the land buffer) the ecosystem for oinkers is thriving in Hawai'i," the book said.
Other listed projects include:
The book said that while only two bills were enacted, Hawai'i and Alaska, represented by Sen. Ted Stevens, a Republican and chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee last year, "were served more than their fair share of bacon" in 2006. The book also noted that Hawai'i and Alaska have been at the top in special project spending on a per capita basis every year but once since 2000.
Reach Dennis Camire at dcamire@gns.gannett.com.
