Return of Pork

An amendment to strip thousands of earmarks out of the omnibus spending bill failed in the Senate. Mississippi lawmakers don’t mind. They say pork gets a bad rap. Tanya Snyder reports.

Washington just can’t get over its love affair with pork. Senator John McCain thinks it’s a sneaky way for lawmakers to fund pet projects and curry favor. He just lost his latest battle to wean his colleagues off these earmarks.

MCCAIN:
The American people today want Congress to act in a fiscally responsible manner and they don’t want us to continue this corrupting practice.

Not everyone agrees that earmarks are corrupting. Mississippi Senator Thad Cochran is the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee. And he’s the number one earmarker in the Senate.

COCHRAN:
Some have begun calling congressionally directed spending an earmark, whatever it is, and however legitimate it may be.

The word “earmark” – and even worse, “pork” – has a negative connotation. But Cochran doesn’t think it should.

COCHRAN2:
And it certainly is not consistent with congressional power that’s vested in us by the US constitution.

To give an example: Cochran secured funding in the current omnibus bill for curriculum development at Mississippi Valley State University. He says the federal dollars made a big difference.

COCHRAN3:
Under the state budget process that university was not being given funds that it could use for vocational training in particular.

The omnibus bill has almost thirteen billion dollars of earmarks. Three hundred million of it is for Mississippi.

Democratic Congressman Gene Taylor agrees that earmarking has its place. He says it makes sense for members of Congress to make decisions about what their districts need.

TAYLOR:
I think I know more about south Mississippi than any president I’ve dealt with. I’m in closer touch with the people down there and what they need and what they don’t need. I’m also in a position to tell an occasional mayor, that’s not a federal responsibility.

Taylor got an earmark to provide more armored vehicles to troops fighting in Iraq… and he says that has helped keep Mississippi soldiers over there - safer.

From Capitol News Connection , I’m Tanya Snyder, M-P-B News.