Wisconsin Senators Jump on the Pork Barrel Bandwagon

Senator Kohl Adds Provision to War Spending Bill to Expand Local Hospital in Green Bay; $78 Billion Extra Added to Bill

MILWAUKEE – Americans for Prosperity wants pork-barrel spending to end. This message comes on the heels of a stunning vote in the Senate to approve a war spending bill with tens of billions of dollars added for non-related programs. The bill, which was approved in the Senate on May 22 and now goes back to the House to be voted on, included an additional $28 billion more than the administration asked for, plus about $50 billion more for veterans’ education benefits through 2017.

“Our federally elected officials are being irresponsible with our government budget,” said Wisconsin State Director Mark Block. “The people of Wisconsin deserve better than Senators that contribute to the never-ending cycle of tax and spend. It’s bad for Wisconsin.”

  • Overall, the bill included an extra $490 million for grants to local police departments, $451 million to repair roads, $200 million for the space shuttle program, $400 million for the National Institutes of Health research projects. In addition, the bill included an extra $14.3 billion for domestic programs, including $8.2 billion for Hurricane Katrina, $5.8 billion for levees around New Orleans, and $348 million for restoration of Mississippi coastal lands.
  • Both Senators Kohl and Feingold voted to approve the bloated spending measure, with Senator Kohl adding a provision that would allow certain physician-owned hospitals, like Aurora BayCare Medical Center in Green Bay, to continue receiving Medicare insurance reimbursements.

“When you attach pork legislation to critical bills, like the Iraq War Spending Bill, you not only jeopardize the key elements in the bill, you pave the way for increased spending,” said Block. “Its essentially holding a gun to the administration, saying ‘Give us this money or else.’ And people wonder why our spending is out of control, both at the state and national level. Wisconsin is tired of Senators that contribute to the problem instead of being part of the solution. We deserve Senators that don’t spend Wisconsin taxpayers’ dollars as their own.”