You may never swim in the new pool they're building in Salinas, Calif., or watch the Arctic Winter Games in Alaska. You may not even know what an "Intermodal Transload Facility" is, let alone why they need one in Quincy, Wash.
But if you pay taxes, you're going to pay for all of these things, and hundreds of other pork-barrel projects throughout the United States.
In a year when the projected deficit exceeds $500 billion, lawmakers still found plenty of room for parochial spending items. This year's omnibus spending bill (H.R. 2673), passed last week by the House, contains more than a thousand pork projects-many more than we could fit on this page even if we printed them in agate type. When all this year's spending bills are taken into account, the federal government will spend more than $20,000 per household.
Here are just a few of the plum prizes lifted from the text of the bill:
$15,000-Pines of Peace, Inc., Ontario, N.Y.
$16,000-National Distance Running Hall of Fame, Utica, NY,
$50,000-Canal Museum, Easton, Pa.
$50,000-Sistas and Brothas United, a North Bronx youth group.
$75,000-Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, Washington, D.C.
$75,000-North Pole Transit System JARC Program, Alaska.
$80,000-Hot Springs Bike Trail, Ark.
$90,000-Olive fruit fly research in France.
$90,000-To research emissions from livestock wastewater in Florence, S.C.
$90,000-Wheat fungus research, Manhattan, Kan.
$100,000-San Fernando Valley, Calif., intergenerational daycare center
$100,000-Kids Rock Free educational program, Corona, Calif.
$100,000-Renovation of the historic Coca-Cola building in Macon, Ga.
$100,000-The Museum of America and the Sea, Mystic, Conn.
$100,000-"Servicing our Youth."
$110,000-Construction of a dental clinic in Bassfield, Miss.
$113,000-"The Healing Place," Louisville, Ky.
$150,000-Rock School, Philadelphia.
$150,000-Traffic light, Briarcliff Manor Union Free School District, N.Y.
$150,000-Regional Youth Baseball Complex Lancaster, Calif.
$150,000-Renovation off Farmers market, Dallas.
$175,000-Blackbird control in Kansas.
$175,000-City of Cape Girardeau, Mo., flood wall mural.
$175,000-Therapeutic Horsemanship center, Gettysburg, Pa.
$180,000-Seafood waste research, Fairbanks, Alaska.
$200,000-Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Cleveland, Ohio.
$200,000-Renovation of First National Bank Building, Greenfield, Mass.
$200,000-Chaldean Community Culture Center, West Bloomfield, Mich.
$210,000-Town of Thomaston, Maine, for construction of a sidewalk
$250,000-Walter Clore Wine and Culinary Center in Prosser, Wash.
$250,000-Call Me Mister program, Clemson University.
$250,000-Feasibility study for a Suffolk, Va., Workforce Development Center
$250,000-Theater construction, Studio for the Arts, Pocahontas, Ark.
$250,000-Museum of Broadcast Communications, Chicago, Ill.
$250,000-Preventing youth smoking in Alaska.
$270,000-Potato storage in Madison, Wis.
$270,000-"Sustainable olive production," Weslaco, Tex.
$270,000-U.S. Vegetable Lab, Charleston, S.C.
$275,000-Refurbishment of the Coach George E. Ford Center, Powder Springs, Ga.
$315,000-Formosan Subterranean Termite research.
$325,000-Construction of a swimming pool in Salinas, Calif.
$350,000-Construction for a folk cultural center in Pinellas County, Fla.
$350,000-Houston, Texas, Childhood Obesity Project.
$400,000-"The Speed Art Museum," Louisville, Ky.
$400,000-Walla Walla Public Schools, Walla Walla, Wash.
$400,000-Davenport Music History Museum, Davenport, Iowa
$450,000-Johnny Appleseed Heritage Center, Inc., Ashland County, Ohio.
$450,000-Trout Genome Mapping.
$500,000-Henderson, Nev., "Inclusion Recreation Program."
$500,000-Obesity Prevention and Control program, Alaska.
$500,000-New England Amer-I-Can Program.
$500,000-Traffic Signal Replacement Program, New Rochelle, N.Y.
$500,000-Bike path, St. Petersburg, Fla.
$500,000-LOVE Social Services, Fairbanks, Alaska.
$725,000-"Please Touch Museum," Philadelphia.
$750,000-"Intelligent Transportation Systems," Wichita Transit Authority.
$800,000-West Palm Beach Trolley Buses, Fla.
$900,000-Burpee Museum of Natural History, Rockford, Ill., for "community outreach and educational activities."
$900,000-Kincaid Park Trail Connection, Alaska.
$1,000,000-Rep. Hal Rogers Parkway, Ky.
$1,000,000-Ship Creek Improvements, Alaska.
$1,000,000-WestStart Vehicular Flywheel Project, Washington.
$1,200,000-Construction of a main sewer transmission line along U.S. 17, Ravenel, S.C.
$1,250,000-U.S. 2, Dover Bridge, Bonner County, Idaho.
$1,500,000-Arctic Winter Games, buses and bus facilities in Alaska.
$1,800,000-Appalachian fruit laboratory in Kearneysville, W.Va.
$1,800,000-2003 Women's World Cup.
$2,000,000-"First Tee" youth golf Program in St. Augustine, Fla.
$2,000,000-Intermodal Transload Facility, Quincy, Wash.
$2,000,000-Parents Anonymous.
$2,000,000-Tools for Tolerance program, Calif.
$3,000,000-US 12 Widening, Wallula Junction to Walla Walla, Wash.
$5,000,000-Kennedy Center Potomac River Pedestrian and Bike Path.
$6,000,000-Treasure Island Bridge.
$12,400,000-To convert waste from chicken-processing factories in Missouri.
$50,000,000-To build a $200 million indoor exhibit about the rainforest.
