State 17th in ‘pork’

Benjamin Grove

Friday, March 16, 2001 | 12:04 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- Nevada ranks 17th on an annual list of states that receive the most "pork" projects from Congress each year. The ranking was based on a per capita basis: Nevada got $77.2 million during the 2001 fiscal year, $38.65 per person.

The report was released Wednesday by the Washington-based congressional watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste. The group said most of the projects defined as pork met at least two of the following criteria: requested by only one chamber of Congress; not specifically authorized; not competitively awarded; not requested by the president; greatly exceeds the president's budget request or the previous year's funding; not subject to congressional hearings; serves only a local or special interest.

Nevada was ranked 17th last year, as well. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., generally the state's top breadwinner as a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said he proudly seeks out money for projects CAGW calls "pork."

"We were only 17?" Reid asked, disappointed. "I must not be doing my job."

Reid said it wasn't fair to call needed projects, such as flood control, "pork."

"We've saved billions of dollars and saved lives and property (with flood projects)," Reid said. "Their definition of pork is ludicrous -- highways, bridges, dams, flood control projects."

Among the Nevada pork listings in the report: $5 million for family housing at Nellis Air Force Base; $4 million for Army Corps of Engineers construction projects in rural Nevada; $3 million for bus facilities in Washoe County; $3 million for a UNLV program for departmentwide management of electronic records; $2 million for mobile and in-vehicle computers for police in Clark County; $2 million to study a system in which tourists check their luggage at the hotel; $1.25 million for downtown Henderson redevelopment.