Americans for Prosperity Says Congressman Price’s Defense of Costly Pork-Barrel Politics Shows He’s Out of Touch with Taxpayers 

RALEIGH -- Americans for Prosperity’s North Carolina State Director Dallas Woodhouse today released the following statement in response to U.S. Rep. David Price’s statement that costly and often-corrupt pork-barrel earmarks have “gotten a bad rap,” and his suggestion that taxpayer advocates who question the practice “take a deep breath.”

“Congressman Price’s defense of the earmarking system shows just how out of touch he is with North Carolina’s taxpayers. 

“He claims that pork-barrel earmarks do not lead to extra spending, but the fact is earmarks are routinely used to buy votes for bloated spending bills that would never pass if nearly every member of Congress didn’t have a pet project in them.

“Congressman Price claims that he opposes funding for unworthy “road to nowhere” projects, yet last year he opposed all 50 proposed amendments that would have killed funding for questionable projects all over the country.  Among the projects that Congressman Price deemed worthy of North Carolinians’ tax dollars: $50,000 for a Mule and Packers Museum in California, $150,000 for the American Ballet Theater in New York City, $200,000 for a Lobster Institute in Maine, and $100,000 to build a prison museum in Kansas. 

“Are these really necessary projects that North Carolina’s hard-working taxpayers need to be funding?  Congressman Price apparently thinks so, and that shows just how out of touch is really is.”

 Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is the nation’s premier grassroots organization committed to advancing every individual’s right to economic freedom and opportunity. AFP believes reducing the size and scope of government is the best safeguard to ensuring individual productivity and prosperity for all Americans. AFP educates and engages citizens in support of restraining state and federal government growth, and returning government to its constitutional limits. For more information, visit http://www.americansforprosperity.org//