Hey, congratulations, Senator Robert Byrd! Gosh, what an honor for you, sir. It seems that the West Virginia Senator is a proud recipient of the Porker of the Month Award.
Citizens Against Government Waste distributes the Award each month to the congressmen who are most bodacious when it comes to lugging federal funds back home at the expense of the rest of the country. Byrd has been perched in the Senate since 1959. He has cast more than 15,000 votes. So he knows what it takes to be an irresponsible spender of other people’s money.
West Virginia is one of the top five states in pork per capita. A great achievement, sort of. Byrd is spending our money on recreation areas, theater revitalization, airport fences, documentaries, etc. Any one of these projects might have some value in and of itself, of course. And as the unrepentant Senator Byrd likes to chirp, “One man’s pork is another man’s job.” Of course, West Virginia continues to be one of the poorest states in the nation. But never mind about that.
In fact, the most important impact of pork is what we don’t see: the jobs that aren’t created when our money is spent on the projects that Byrd likes instead of on the projects that we like. If the people of West Virginia want to appreciate what Byrd has brought them, they can go out to one of the rest areas off the highway and inspect one of these $100,000 restroom facilities up close. It’s like winning the lottery . . . or is it?
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.