Agassi Academy’s pork may survive GOP foes

Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2007 | 7:02 a.m.

WASHINGTON - So much attention for one little school.

After suffering an anti-pork frenzy in Washington earlier this year, the Andre Agassi Preparatory Academy could survive the latest potential attack as congressional Republicans train their sights on a juicier target.

The school is in line to get $200,000 this year, thanks to Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley of Nevada . She inserted a spending request, known as an earmark, into a $150 billion health, labor and education appropriations bill up for final passage.

Republican Rep. Jon Porter of Nevada joined Berkley this summer in her battle to save the school's funding from Republican anti-pork crusaders. Conservative House Republicans tried to kill the earmark , which they considered unnecessary, pointing to the status of the man for whom the school is named.

Agassi is a donor to Democratic campaigns and someone Nevada Democrats mention as a dream candidate for public office.

With both chambers preparing this week to take a final round of votes on the bill, the school's earmark was a potential target of fiscal conservatives, said one congressional aide.

Senate Republicans were looking for examples of excessive spending to spotlight, as President Bush has threatened to veto most of the bills for going slightly over his spending limits.

But Republicans found a better target - a $300,000 earmark from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the Exploratorium, a museum in San Francisco , which she represents .

"We had a menu of options from which to choose, and the Pelosi Exploratorium was too good to skip," a Senate Republican aide said. Senate Republicans plan today to launch a pork report Web site devoted to earmark requests in appropriations bills.

Berkley is confident the money for Agassi's school will come through. The money would go for computer equipment and online courses for the school, which serves one of Southern Nevada's poorest areas. New rules ensure that once an earmark has been vetted and approved, it cannot be eliminated later in the process.

"There's every reason to believe the money will be in there," Berkley spokesman David Cherry said. "Congresswoman Berkley requested that money because she feels strongly about the mission of the Andre Agassi Academy and is proud to make the case this will help some of the least privileged students in Southern Nevada."

If there are any future challenges to the funding, Cherry added, Berkley will "take them on - any where, any place, any time."