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A new report says congress is on a feeding frenzy with you money, as members spend $18 billion on special pet projects.
Every year the group Citizens Against Government Waste release it's pig book: the list of pork project members of congress got for their districts thanks to what's called earmarked appropriation.
This year, Maryland, D.C., and Virginia were all in the top 25 for pork per capita. "Representative Steny Hoyer was in the top five of House members. $139 million in pork in 2008. So he cracked our top five, which is big news for Maryland," said David Williams with Citizens Against Government Waste.
Some area items may seem worth the price to taxpayers in the area. Hoyer got $146,000 for the education aviation museum in College Park. Senator Barbara Mikulski got $893,000 for the Baltimore aquarium, but what about the $438,000 earmark Hoyer for for the In Tune Foundation? Its website says it's dedicated to improving the quality of life in communities through music.
Citizens Against Government Waste says it hits the wrong note when current and former employees of In Tune and their families donated at least $31,000 to Rep. Hoyer's political action committee.
Republican Congressman Virgil Goode of Virginia got $98,000 for a walking tour of Boydton, Va., a town less than a square mile with only 474 residents. While many people enjoy a game of golf, Congress took $3 million out of pentagon funds to teach the sport to kids, nationwide.
Citizens Against Government Waste acknowledges that "bringing home the bacon" is a time-honored Washington tradition, but they've been trying to end the practice since 1985. Despite Democrats pledging to do so, since they've come back in to power, they've only become some of the worst abusers.
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