It's almost surreal. Senator Byrd loves to spend taxpayers' money - so much so that he's often named "Porker of the Month" by the watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), which bestowed the honor upon him in February, 2001.
At that time, Senator Byrd had been criticizing the G.W. Bush tax cut proposals as "fiscally irresponsible." And so CAGW reviewed some of the spending schemes that Senator Byrd had been up to after obtaining a seat on the Senate Budget Committee.
This included a recreation area at Lake Sherwood, revitalization of the Strand Theater in Moundsville, building the Kanawha Boulevard Walkway in Charleston, installing fences at the Jackson County Airport, and subsidizing a documentary on the Appalachians.
Of course, all this is just the tip of the iceberg for the King of Pork - and yet, a pattern seems to be forming. If Mr. Byrd finds a way to divert millions of dollars of taxpayers' money to his home state for pet projects, that's just serving his constituents. But if Mr. Bush proposes tax cuts or addresses the troops on shipboard following a successful war effort, that's "fiscally irresponsible."
Speaking of fiscal irresponsibility - and thank you, Senator Byrd for bringing it up - there's plenty of blame to pass around to both the executive and legislative branches.
Congress, especially, has an insatiable appetite for spending taxpayers' money. When times are good, lawmakers take advantage of the bloated treasury to bring home the pork. When times are bad, they spend money in the name of stimulating the economy, or preserving the safety net for the poor. To the great majority in Congress, there is never a good time to cut back on spending.
Even in the wake of 9/11, the appetite for pork did not subside; in fact the attacks on America provided a new impetus for even more calls for even more spending. Following the attacks, every pork item imaginable was back on the table with some kind of homeland security hook to make it absolutely essential to the continued existence of the United States.
Senators managed to cram nearly $400 million of pork projects into a bill that was designed to shore up the Pentagon and national defense following the attacks, sparking Senator John McCain to say that the bill "is going to have more Christmas tree goodies on it than the North Pole."
We dug up a few actual headlines from newspapers around the country – all published AFTER 9/11: "Lobbyists pounce on anti-terrorism cause." – "Spending brings political parties together." – "Pork piggybacks anti-terrorism bill." – "Government’s fleet outpaces even Hertz." – "Congressional travel hasn’t been stymied." – "Congress raids funds for highway projects." We could go on and on.
And remember, too, that the CAGW now estimates that annual pork-barrel projects - stuff that we could easily do without - is now skyrocketing to more than $20 billion dollars per year with no end in sight. And that's not counting the bloated Farm Bill, the Education Bill that expanded the federal role in public schools, the new Homeland Security bureaucracy, and so forth.
With all this in mind, it is refreshing to see Senator Byrd discover one teeny, tiny bit of government spending that he opposes. It's not much, but it's a start.
Maybe Senator Byrd will some day pass up a chance to build some new bicycle trail in West Virginia. That might inspire some other spendthrift like Senator Ted Stevens from grabbing as much bacon as he can for his home state of Alaska.
As for the President, his ship-landing days are over unless we win another war in Libya or Iran, or some other trouble spot. That $800,000 expense is unlikely to be duplicated. But pork barrel spending by Congress is forever.
Thanks to Senator Byrd's new frugality, we've all been reminded of that fact. If Senator Byrd and his fellow porkers would put an end to all their wasteful spending, that would really make history.
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