The porkers were back again last year, and with a vengeance.

According to the latest tally by the Citizens Against Government Waste, federal appropriators "worshiped at the altar of pork-barrel spending" in fiscal 2001 like never before.

Lawmakers brought home the bacon by clearing a record 6,333 projects during the period that couldn't pass the pig sty test: They were requested by only one chamber of Congress; were neither specifically authorized, competitively awarded, requested by the President nor the subject hearings; greatly exceeded the President's budget request or the previous year's funding, or served only a local or special interest.

And 433 of the worst offenders -- the ones that symbolize the "most egregious and blatant examples of pork," said CAGW -- are chronicled in the latest edition of the Congressional Pig Book, aka "The Book Washington Doesn't Want You to Read." Appropriately enough, the cover is pink.

Congress "saw the mountain of money created by the budget surplus and grabbed so many of the taxpayers' dollars that they created a new epic, 2001: A Pork Odyssey," said the non-profit group, which is dedicated to educating the nation about waste, mismanagement and inefficiency in the federal government.

Worse, the offending giveaways were often approved in such a way that it was difficult to protest their inclusion in spending bills. In some instances, for example, the bills were brought to the floor with limited debate. And in other cases, there was less than 24 hours between the bill's release from committee and the final tally.

The greatest increase in pork was recorded in bills to fund the Treasury and Postal Departments. But a record number of porcine projects were racked up in the FY 2001 appropriations bill for the Departments of Housing and Urban Development and Veterans Affairs as well as several independent agencies.

The measure contained 1,200 such projects, an increase of 44 percent from FY 2000.

Fortunately for taxpayers, spending was up only $141 million, or just 8 percent.

Congress pigged out with a record 447 Community Development Block Grants, and went hog wild with 704 Economic Development Initiative grants. Both programs were established to help low-income families and eliminate urban blight.

But the EDI grants included $26 million for a farmers market in Ohio and a soul music museum in Tennessee. To be fair, the $1.5 million for the Stax Museum in Memphis, which celebrates one of the largest soul music studios from 1960 to 1975, will help boost local tourism.

But the Jimi Hendrix Museum in Seattle was funded without a dime from taxpayers.

The most recent spending initiatives also included $500,000 to restore a carousel in Cleveland and another half-million for an art museum in Seattle, the city's third-most popular tourist attraction and one with a surplus of $60 million. More than $67 million of the money contained in the HUD-VA went to fund projects in the home state of champion barrel roller Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., who just happens to be the ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. On the other side of the isle, ranking Republican Christopher Bond helped grab $51 million in barbeque for his home state of Missouri.

As usual, though, Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, did the most for his constituents by bringing home 480 million strips of bacon, or $766 per person. The national average is a mere $25.50 per capita.

For more articles by Lew Sichelman, please press here.

Published: March 30, 2001

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When Lew Sichelman first started writing about housing in 1969, he was the youngest real estate writer in the country. Now, 37 years later, he's one of the oldest -- and most decorated. He has been rated the top housing columnist in the country by the National Association of Realtors as well as by his peers in the National Association of Real Estate Editors. Indeed, NAREE has recognized his work on numerous occasions. One year - due to his advancing age, he can't recall which one - he earned top honors in the annual NAREE Journalism Contest in three out of the four major writing categories. It was the first time one writer has won so many NAREE awards in a single year. Known for his ability to make even the most difficult topics understandable, Sichelman also has been honored by the National Association of Home Builders and the Mortgage Bankers Association. He began providing in-depth coverage of and consumer-oriented information about housing and housing finance at the Washington Daily News, where he was real estate editor. He held that same position for nine more years at the Washington Star, which purchased the News in 1972. The Star, a so-called "writer's newspaper" which also had the misfortune of being an evening paper, was put out of its misery in 1981, and Sichelman, who had begun self-syndicating his column in 1978, decided to become a full-time columnist. Today, his column, "The Housing Scene," is distributed by United Media to newspapers throughout the country. He also is on the staff of National Mortgage News, an independent newspaper which is considered the bible of the mortgage business. And he writes for numerous other publications, including MarketWatch.com, where he answers readers questions once a week, Sports Illustrated (don't ask), RealtyTimes.com, BigBuilder and others. Sichelman is married, the father of five and grandfather of eleven.