Today, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) named Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) its March 2024 Porker of the Month for pushing prolific amounts of pork.

On March 3, 2024, Congress passed a $465 billion bill that would cover six of the 12 annual appropriations bills, including more than 6,000 earmarks spanning 605 pages. In the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development bill alone, there are seven earmarks worth $12.4 million for two museums and 25 earmarks worth $30.7 million for bike paths. Sen. Schumer got $6.75 million for museums in New York City, one of which had $354 million in income in 2022. Members of Congress like Sen. Schumer use earmarks as “legalized bribery” to get votes for the appropriations bills in exchange for morsels of pork-barrel earmarks.

CAGW President Tom Schatz said, “Sen. Schumer is feeding at the trough and shoveling out billions of dollars in earmarks to members of Congress. Earmarks are one of the most corrupt, costly, and inequitable practices in history. This excessive spending will only further add to the fiscal burdens on taxpayers. Sen. Schumer should instead be working to reduce waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement. For his efforts to push expensive pork-barrel earmarks, Sen. Schumer 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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