Georgia lawmakers push for their pet projects

WASHINGTON — In unveiling details of its $3.4 trillion budget plan on Thursday, the White House emphasized the elimination of more than $17 billion in government programs that it characterized as too expensive, too inefficient or as pet projects of special interest groups.

That hasn’t stopped congressional lawmakers — including most of Georgia’s representatives in Washington — from requesting millions in tax dollars for “earmarks” to fund pet projects for their districts. Under new rules aimed at curbing so-called “pork-barrel” spending, every Congress member is now required to post details about their earmark funding requests on their Web sites.

A look at the disclosures posted in recent weeks by Georgia’s congressional delegation shows that many are for major infrastructure programs, such as $12 million to create a disaster response center at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Airport; $9 million for clean-fuel MARTA buses and $2 million to extend U.S. 41/Cobb Parkway.

But others are more obscure.

Rep. Sanford Bishop has requested $400,000 for the South Carolina-based National Wild Turkey Federation to explore ways to help with forestry management using seedlings from Georgia. Bishop also requested nearly $1.2 million to go toward researching how to get children and aging adults to eat more peanuts for health reasons.

Bishop, an Albany Democrat, is Georgia’s biggest proponent of earmarks — which he calls “congressionally directed spending.”

Bishop couldn’t be reached for comment for this story. But in an interview in March, he defended earmarks as an important economic development tool.

Atlanta Democrat Rep. John Lewis requested $600,000 for an edible garden at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, among other projects.

Rep. David Scott, also an Atlanta Democrat, requested $1.6 million for road improvements along the Six Flags Corridor in South Cobb County and $1 million for a New York organization that works with the University of Georgia on beef research.

Earmarks have no political or monetary boundaries, however.

Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss requested more than $3 billion to continue work on his biggest pet project, the F-22 Raptor fighter jet built in Marietta. The Defense Department has said it doesn’t need more planes and wants to use the money instead for other defense projects.

Chambliss also has requested tens of millions more for other defense-related projects.

Several Georgia lawmakers, namely Republican Reps. Tom Price of Roswell, Lynn Westmoreland of Coweta County and Paul Broun of Athens, refuse to ask for earmarks out of principle.

Others try to distance themselves from earmarks — even as they’re requesting them.

Among the requests by Rep. Jim Marshall are $320,000 to pay for academic coaches to help teachers in Irwin County Schools and $350,000 more for programs at the Robins Air Force Base aviation museum.

Marshall, a Macon Democrat, starts the written explanation for each of his earmark requests the same way:

“I would ban earmarks as we know them,” he writes. “But as long as these earmarks are available, I’m going to apply for them in an effort to pursue federal funding opportunities for my district.”

‘Earkmark’ funding requests

A sampling of “earmark” funding requests by Georgia’s Congressional delegation for the government’s fiscal year that begins Oct. 1:

Atlanta Botanical Garden-Edible Garden/Atlanta: Project to teach visitors about gardening and organic vegetables; $600,000; Rep. John Lewis, D-Atlanta

Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Airport/Atlanta: Creation of a disaster response command center; $12 million; Reps. John Lewis and others

Goat meat research/Fort Valley: Creation of a research center at Fort Valley State University to study how to improve and promote the nation’s goat meat production; $200,000; Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Albany

Peanut research/Albany

Programs would encourage school children to modify their diets to include more peanut products and research how peanuts can be used to improve heart illnesses in aging adults; $1.2 million; Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Albany

Richard Russell Regional Airport/Rome: Improvements for taxiways at Floyd County airport; $500,000; Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Marietta

Academic coach program/Ocilla: Would provide funding for academic coaches to help implement and monitor instructional strategies in Irwin County Schools; $320,000; Rep. Jim Marshall, D-Macon

Commerce Crossing/Conyers: Would fund a new “commerce crossing” bridge over I-20 in Conyers; $500,000; Rep. Hank Johnson, D-DeKalb

National Beef Cattle Evaluation Consortium/Ithaca, N.Y.: Would fund program to help increase the competitiveness of the U.S. beef industry; $1 million; Rep. David Scott, D-Atlanta

Advanced lithium battery research/Alpharetta: Would provide funding to Excellatron Solid State LLC for scale-up and manufacturing of new batteries; $10 million; Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-GA and others

Homeownership center/Atlanta: Would expand National Urban League’s local Restore Our Homes Homeownership Center;

$500,000; Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-GA and others

Source: Congressional Offices