Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today announced the nominees for its 2013 Porker of the Year. People may cast their ballots for the candidate they think was the most reprehensible Porker in 2013 in an online poll at www.cagw.org. The six finalists were chosen by CAGW staff from among 12 worthy Porkers of the Month for 2013. The voting deadline is Feb. 5, 2014 and the results will be announced Feb. 6, 2014. The candidates are:

  • Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), for sponsoring H.R. 3636, the UPDATE Act of 2013, which would increase the federal gas tax from the current 18.4 cents per gallon to 33.4 cents per gallon, pump additional money into the Highway Trust Fund, and divert more federal transportation funds toward local bicycle-related projects. Taxpayers have coughed up $9.5 billion for pedestrian and bicycle projects between fiscal years 1992 and 2013.
  • Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), for contradicting the idea that both federal and state governments should spend only what they earn. On October 17, 2013, Rep. Connolly stated "That is not true. We don't live within our means, and within reason, if you manage it well, you can actually improve your credit rating because it extends your quality of life." Rep. Connolly apparently failed to take notice of the credit rating agency Standard & Poors' downgrade of the nation's credit score due to the debt ceiling conflict back in 2011.
  • Reps. Donna Edwards (D-Md.) and Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas), for co-sponsoring H.R. 2617, the Apollo Lunar Landing Legacy Act, which would establish the Apollo Lunar Landing Sites National Historic Park on the Moon. While the stratospheric cost for this taxpayer-funded project is unknown, the legality of establishing a national park outside of the U.S., or beyond low earth orbit to infinity and beyond, remains unclear at best.
  • House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), for refusing to acknowledge that the United States has a spending problem. On February 12, 2013, Rep. Hoyer stated "The country has a paying for problem. We haven't paid for what we bought, we haven't paid for our tax cuts, we haven't paid for war." Rep. Hoyer's incoherence shows he either lacks a grasp of basic budgeting or has a blind adherence to big government talking points.
  • Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), for a statement claiming the Obama administration had solved all of the Affordable Care Act's website problems after a botched roll-out. "It is no longer necessary to fix the problem because the administration has fixed the problem," Rep. Israel said on November 14, 2013. Rep. Israel's statement proved that he chose to blatantly ignore the five million Americans who lost their existing healthcare plans after October 1, 2013, and subsequent developments have only reinforced the massive failures of the program's website.
  • Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), for her sour comments on sugar reform in the Senate version of the 2013 farm bill. Sen. Landrieu stated that she would focus on protecting and supporting the "effective" sugar program, adding "yes, the price of a candy bar might be a penny or two higher, but who needs cheaper candy bars? No one." Her comment ignored the fact that the sugar program cost American consumers more than $2.9 billion in 2012 and disadvantages American businesses that rely on sugar not just for candy bars, but for thousands of other products that contain sugar.

CAGW is the nation's largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government. Porker of the Month and Porker of the Year are dubious honors given to lawmakers, government officials, and political candidates who have shown a blatant disregard for the interests of taxpayers.

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW)
Alex Booze, 202-467-5318
or
Leslie K. Paige, 202-467-5300