Loading the Pork Train
A case study of why earmarks may be getting out of hand
The Mayo Clinic in Minnesota is internationally renowned for fighting cancer and other diseases. But lately it has been fighting a congressional "earmark."
During the final negotiations over the FY 2006 transportation bill, Sen. John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, tacked on language that would dramatically expand a federal program and help a small railroad company in his state get a $2.5 billion government loan. The loan would allow the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad to build new track right past the clinic, which says it would jeopardize sensitive equipment and increase the risk of nearby hazardous spills at one of the state's most important businesses.
Thune says he's helping his state. But Steve Ellis, with the budget watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense, calls it the "granddaddy of all earmarks," given its large price tag. Earmarks like this are getting a lot of attention in Washington these days. Earmarks, an increasingly popular form of pork-barrel spending, are special state or local projects attached to federal legislation, often without congressional debate. Earmarks are perfectly legal, though many of the current congressional corruption investigations revolve around lawmakers who are suspected of giving them out in exchange for campaign contributions, meals, gifts, and lavish trips.
"Earmarks," says Ellis, "are the direct result of a corrupt process that encourages and rewards lawmakers who don't spend their time legislating ... but pulling money in million-dollar chunks back to their ... political patrons."
Senator Thune, who used to lobby for DM&E, says that expanding the rail company's existing 1,100 miles of track mainly in South Dakota and Minnesota into a 2,800-mile coal line will create tens of thousands of jobs. Any railroad can apply for these loans, he says. "This has national implications in terms of public benefit," Thune says. "It's about cheaper, cleaner coal."
It's true that other rail companies might benefit from the federal Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing program that Thune expanded from $3.5 billion to $35 billion. But the language Thune put into the bill was custom made for the DM&E line, says Sen. Mark Dayton, the Minnesota Democrat who has taken the side of the Mayo Clinic. He and others question the rail company's ability to repay the loan--one of the largest federal loans ever given to a private company, he says. "It's a real perversion of the process and the public interest," says Dayton.
Kevin Schieffer, president and chief executive officer of the DM&E, says arguments against the project have no merit. "We are very solid financially," he adds. "The project has overwhelming support throughout our entire region."
The White House has tried to end the railroad loan program as an unnecessary giveaway to private companies. "In the event of a loan default, the federal government would be responsible for covering any losses, which could be significant," says a recent report by the Office of Management and Budget.
The railroad earmark dwarfs most pork projects, but it remains part of a skyrocketing trend. From 1994 to 2005, the number of earmarks more than tripled, while their cost shot up from $30 billion to $47 billion, according to the Congressional Research Service.
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