Hey, At Least 15 Of Them Are Responsible

Just recently, Citizens Against Government Waste came out with its annual report detailing the cost and exact number of pork-barrel projects each member of the House of Representatives and the Senate received (You can see the info yourself here); and I am proud to report that one of my Senators, Jim DeMint, was one of only 5 Senators to waste $0 of your tax money on pork-barrel projects.

(Unfortunately, the other two members of my Congressional delegation didn't do quite as well: my other Senator, Lindsey Graham, was 67th in terms of dollar amounts, and had his 59 projects total $99.2 million; and my Congressman, Henry Brown, had only 17 projects for $31.5 million, and managed to be in the top third of the House's porkers.)

However, you'll also be happy to know that another one of those 5 Senators who didn't request pork money was the Republican nominee for President, John McCain (who has never requested a pork-barrel project during his entire Congressional career); a fact which should indicate to you that the man does have a pretty decent sense of fiscal responsibility about him - something which we could use in the Oval Office come next January.

On the other hand, you'll be disappointed to know that, well, only 5 out of 100 U.S Senators didn't request pork projects. Oh, and you'll be further disappointed by the fact that this 5% success rate is actually the higher of the two houses of Congress; as only 10 out of the 435 members (a measly 2.3%) of the House of Representatives were able to refrain from wasting your tax dollars.

But hey, a few million here, a few million there, what's the difference, right?