Pork Report, January 12 2009

Federal stimulus plan’s spending on roads and bridges has had no effect on unemployment, research finds; “Spend a lot or spend nothing at all, it didn’t matter,” the analysis showed as “local unemployment rates rose and fell regardless of how much stimulus money Washington poured out for transportation”

· “It beats being at work!” Federal Aviation Administration spent $5 million to send 3, 600 managers to a conference in Atlanta that some say was little more than an excuse to throw a three-week-long party

· Congress spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to send politicians and staff on a junket to the global warming summit that failed to reach a climate agreement

· “Stealth” company whose address appears to be an empty office to receive $9.2 million federal grant

· The Postal Service’s top marketing executive directed more than $1.3 million in sole-source contracts to former business associates; As a result, some postal employees are sitting idle because the consultants are doing what previously were their jobs

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Tags: congressional ethics, congressional junket, contracting abuse, Copenhagen conference, FAA
Posted Jan 12th 2010 at 12:53 pm in Pork Report | 5889839 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/porkreport/2010/01/12/pork-report-january-12-2009/Pork+Report%2C+January+12+20092010-01-12+20%3A53%3A28The+Pork+Report

Pork Report October 30, 2009: A Caboose To Nowhere Edition

California sculpture competition paid for with a Federal Transportation Enhancement Activity grant

A top FEMA official admitted there is no way to assess the effectiveness of homeland security improvements made from the $29 billion spent since 2002

Homeland Security funds spent on a equipment that was never used and probably will be never needed

$1.5 million federal grant will pay to renovate a train station which hasn’t been used in three decades and may never be used again

A $78,280 federal Transportation Enhancement Grant paying to relocate and renovate a caboose not used in decades

Department of Commerce pays to send Ohio Chamber of Commerce members on a two week junket to China

$500,000 in federal funds expected to pay for a party to celebrate St. Augustine’s 450th birthday

The National Park Service will spend more than $300,000 to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Blue Ridge Parkway

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Tags: Blue Ridge Parkway, federal spending, FEMA, Homeland Security, junket
Posted Oct 30th 2009 at 5:58 pm in Congress, Pork Report | 2328623 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/porkreport/2009/10/30/pork-report-october-30-2009-a-caboose-to-nowhere-edition/Pork+Report+October+30%2C+2009%3A+A+Caboose+To+Nowhere+Edition2009-10-31+00%3A58%3A35The+Pork+Report

Pork Report October 28, 2009: Taxpayer Subsidies All Around Edition

There are millions of tweets every day, and the government is paying scientists $678,000 to read them and measure the happiness of the written expressions

National Science Foundation discovers the cure for politicians’ dismal approval ratings; Taxpayer funded researchers to brief Congress on how to increase constituent trust and approval ratings this Friday

The right to free speech now includes government subsidized cell phones; Phone companies receive up to $10 a month in government subsidies to cover what amounts to about $3 in service per beneficiary

“Cell phone ownership is a right,” says company that provides taxpayer subsidized phones

Taxpayers subsidize about $32 of the cost of a train ticket for every Amtrak passenger

Despites the massive $787 billion in federal stimulus spending, the national unemployment rate rises to nearly 9.8 percent and the nation marks the 21st month of net job losses, longer than at any time since the Great Depression…

The White House says stimulus spending has already had its biggest impact and probably won’t contribute to significant growth next year

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Tags: Amtrak, Ben Bernanke, goverment research, Homeland Security, junket
Posted Oct 28th 2009 at 12:56 pm in Congress | 221547 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/porkreport/2009/10/28/pork-report-october-28-2009-taxpayer-subsidies-all-around-edition/Pork+Report+October+28%2C+2009%3A+Taxpayer+Subsidies+All+Around+Edition2009-10-28+19%3A56%3A41The+Pork+Report