Here piggy, piggy, piggy
Taxpayers for Common Sense has its annual review of budget earmarks out.
Earmarks are those little (or not so little) bits of funding that members of Congress set aside and make sure get to the home folks. Some folks call it pork, others call it "valuable local economic development projects." It's all a matter of perspective.
You can look through the whole thing at the TCS website, but I'm going to dive in an pull out some info on our locals.
Let's start with Congressman Howard Coble:
Amount requested alone or alone and with Senators: $5,289,500
Amount of Total Earmarks, requested solo and with others: $1,2737,500
Some of the Projects:
- * YMCA of High Point, NC, Archdale Trinity Branch in Archdale, NC, for construction of a YMCA facility, $147,000
- * Alamance-Burlington School District, Burlington, NC for the Professional Development Academy, $146,000
- * Sandhills Teen Challenge, Carthage, NC for substance abuse treatment services, $97,000
Coble had two projects he requested in conjunction with Brad Miller:
- * Elon University of Law, Juvenile Justice Intervention and Mediation Clinic, Greensboro, NC, $235,000.
- * Autonomous Anti-Submarine Vertical Beam Array, $1 million. (This one went to General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems.)
Miller himself had $9.6 million in earmarks, $2.2 of which he either requested on his own or in conjunction with Senators (read: no other house members involved). Some samples from his list:
- * FRESH (Field Renewable Energy System Hybrids) Li Ion Battery, $1 million. (AFRL/PRPS).
- * WakeMed Health & Hospitals, for the Emergency Operations and Regional Call Center, $170,000.
- * To Interact, for renovation and build out of a shelter for victims of domestic violence, $147,000.
- * Person Memorial Hospital, Roxboro, NC for facilities and equipment, $331,000.
Rep. Mel Watt has signed onto $23.8 million in earmarks, although only a tenth of that are items that he signed onto by himself. Some samples of those:
- * University of North Carolina, with East Carolina University, for the program in Racial Disparities in Cardiovascular Disease, $570,000.
- * University of North Carolina at Greensboro, for a teletherapy program to address the shortage of speech language pathologists, $68,000.
- * Intermodal Transportation Facility (Winston-Salem), $392,000.
- * Klumac Road grade crossing separation (Salisbury), $300,000.
The big money seems to be on the Senate side.
Elizabeth Dole did $147 million in earmarks either on her own or with others. Of that, she did $4.8 million in solo requests, with no other Senator or House member involved. Samples from that group:
- * FHWA; Ferry Boats and Terminal Facilities, $2.3 million, North Carolina Statewide Ferry System.
- * University of North Carolina at Wilmington, for nursing programs including military veterans, clinical research, and distance learning, $205,000.
- * Aquatic Plant Control - Lake Gaston, $512,000.
Sen. Richard Burr signed on to $116 million in earmarks, $2.8 million of those without another Senator or House member involved. In that latter group:
- * City of Rocky Mount, for renovations to the former Booker T. Washington High School, $137,200.
- * Clayton Pedestrian Grade Separation, $360,150.
- * Gaston College, Health Education Institute, Dallas, NC for nurse training programs, including facilities and equipment, $146,000.