May's Porker of the Month - Sens. Cochran and Lott

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) has named Mississippi Senators Thad Cochran (R) and Trent Lott (R) Porkers of the Month for adding $700 million for the “railroad to nowhere” to the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2006 (H.R. 4929). The Senate’s version of the bill for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and hurricane aid on the Gulf Coast costs $109 billion. President Bush requested $92.2 billion, and the House passed a $91.9 billion version in March. The “railroad to nowhere,” which would use taxpayer funds to purchase and replace a private rail line with a highway benefiting Gulf Coast casinos, is one of dozens of earmarks costing billions of dollars tacked onto the Senate bill. It comes on the heels of the controversy over the $223 million “bridge to nowhere” for Alaska in the 2005 Highway bill. For fattening the deficit, classifying an unnecessary project as “emergency” spending, and failing to learn the lessons of the infamous “bridge to nowhere,” Sens. Cochran and Lott are Co-Porkers of the Month for May 2006.

Read more about the Porker of the Month.