Former Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby was roasted as the king of congressional pork in a report released by a government watchdog on Thursday that “honored” Shelby for being responsible for more than $666 million in earmarks last year.
Howard Koplowitz | [email protected]
Citizens Against Government Waste gave the former longtime senator “The Whole Hog Award” for “18 earmarks costing $666,406,000, by far the highest amount of any member of Congress.”on Thursday. The report contains a database of all the line items in appropriations bills “that designates tax dollars for a specific purpose in circumvention of established budgetary procedures.”
Shelby’s earmarks were 23 percent more than the second-highest lawmaker on the list, retired Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, who received 63 earmarks costing $541,376,000, according to the report. In order to be labeled as pork, according to the report, the earmarks must meet one of seven criteria:Not requested by the President;Not the subject of congressional hearings; or,Efforts to reach Shelby were unsuccessful, but the retired senator, maintaining that the projects are not examples of wasteful spending.
“Throughout my time in Congress, I have worked hard to secure funding that benefits Alabama and the nation,” Shelby said. “My efforts in the [2022] omnibus were no different. Each of my spending requests were meritorious, and I am proud of the investments being made in my home state. I have long-believed that Congress is closest to the people and should not cede its Constitutional power of the purse to the President and unelected bureaucrats when it comes to these decisions.
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