Today, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) named House Energy-Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) our August 2023 Porker of the Month for receiving $273.3 million in pork-barrel earmarks.

Rep. Fleischmann has received almost 90 percent more in earmarks for fiscal year (FY) 2024 than the second highest member of the House of Representatives. The $273.3 million in earmarks is also 10 times the amount that Rep. Fleishmann secured in FY 2023. According to Roll Call, “GOP lawmakers are spreading nearly $7.4 billion among 4,714 individual projects.” Earmarks are at near-record levels since members of Congress restored the practice. Thanks to Rep. Fleishmann and many other House Republicans, whose earmark haul belies their claims of fiscal responsibility, legislators are well on their way to breaking the all-time record of $29 billion in fiscal year 2006.

CAGW President Tom Schatz said, “Rep. Fleischmann is robbing taxpayers of their hard-earned money for his own parochial purposes. He does not need $273.3 million in pork-barrel earmarks, which are the most corrupt, costly, and inequitable practice in the history of Congress. Members of Congress like him are putting America into a bigger fiscal hole. For leading the way in the House for earmarks, Rep. Fleischmann was an easy choice for this month’s Porker.”

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government. For more than two decades, Porker of the Month is a dubious honor given to lawmakers and government officials who have shown a blatant disregard for the taxpayers.

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