MINNESOTAN LAWMAKER GARNERS AWARD

“Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) has named House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) Porker of the Month for calling for a 5-cent increase in the federal gasoline tax in the wake of the deadly bridge collapse in his home state. Rep. Oberstar says the ‘temporary’ tax increase will raise $25 billion for a new bridge repair trust fund. Sadly and ironically, that’s almost exactly the same amount members of Congress siphoned off from the 2005 transportation bill to pay for nearly 6,500 pet, pork-barrel projects, including most notably $223 million for Alaska’s ‘Bridge to Nowhere.’ Rep. Oberstar himself was a participant in the earmark melee, securing $14.6 million that could have gone to highway and bridge repairs for five special-interest projects in his district, including $3.2 million for the Willard Munger State Trail. For seizing an opportunity to turn tragedy into a tax increase and an unnecessary new trust fund and for protecting transportation pork, CAGW names Rep. Jim Oberstar the August 2007 Porker of the Month.”

—Citizens Against Government Waste