BRINGING HOME THE BACON

Congressional pork is on the rise once again. In figures that just came out for 2005, Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) has once again established himself as the undisputed "King Of Pork".

Sen. Stevens secured for his state $1044.43 per resident of your tax dollar. Second place went to Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI) at $339.29 per resident, and 3rd place belongs to Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) at $262.54 per person. In contrast, North Carolina was in last place at $25.05 per capita.

So what exactly is pork? Pork is extra money that is slipped into "must pass" spending bills to benefit a particular Representative or Senators' State. These are commonly called "earmarks" on Capital Hill.

Why do our elected officials use these "earmarks" ... because we want them to. Many complain about all the "pork" in the spending bills, but we keep re-electing those that bring home the bacon. After all ... it's only "pork" when some other Senator is doing it, when our Senator does it ... he's looking out for us.

In 2005, the total amount of "earmarks" was nearly $19 Billion ... since we are running a deficit, we are paying interest on that spending. How is that looking out for us?

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