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Critics blast Kennedy-branded earmarks
More than $60.4 million in taxpayer-funded pork projects for Massachusetts in the current federal budget carry the name of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, a Herald review of new data shows.The 95 earmarks - for a vast array of projects that include subsidies for cranberry and blueberry growers ($160,000), the New England Aquarium ($1.25 million), and millions for fishing and military research - show the clout Kennedy continues to wield on federal spending nearly eight months after his death. Tarah Donoghue, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Republican Party, called the spending details, included in a "pig book" report released last week by Citizens Against Government Waste, examples of "excessive spending" that "drives the rapid growth of our government." She and other critics said the spending is inappropriate at a time when the federal debt has reached unprecedented levels. The Sunday Herald reported yesterday that taxpayer spending on a shrine being built to Kennedy in Dorchester has ballooned to $38.3 million since Kennedy's Aug. 25 death. The money comes from earmarks slipped into a variety of federal agencies by Sen. John F. Kerry and Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Malden). The powerful Bay State pols want to boost the total outlay to $68 million before the end of this year. Some $28.9 million of that would be siphoned from the Defense Department budget alone - money the backers of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate at Columbia Point say is justifiable because the institute will sponsor programs for the children of military veterans. Critics of government boondoggles criticize the taxpayer expense, noting that the Kennedy family and its friends are wealthy and connected enough to raise what they need privately. Barbara Anderson, an anti-tax crusader and co-founder of Massachusetts Citizens for Limited Taxation, said "people responsible for building up debt shouldn't be getting memorials." Posted by: Fred 2010-04-20 |
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