Today, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) named House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) its May 2024 Porker of the Month for receiving $236.8 million for the single largest pork-barrel earmark.

Rep. Fleischmann has received a total of $273.3 million in earmarks in fiscal year (FY) 2024, which is a massive 855.6 percent increase from the $28.6 million that he secured in FY 2023. The earmark that Rep. Fleischmann has received for an Army Corps of Engineers water project is nearly double the amount of the second highest earmark for FY 2024. Members of Congress like Rep. Fleischmann have willfully ignored or forgotten why earmarks were first subject to the moratorium. Earmarks are a corrupt, cynical, and lazy method of governing, and the practice also benefits the most powerful legislators.

CAGW President Tom Schatz said, “Earmarks are back to bite and members of Congress like Rep. Fleischmann are primarily responsible for swindling taxpayers out of their money. They are the most corrupt, costly, and inequitable practice in the history of Congress and should be permanently eliminated rather than celebrated. Rep. Fleischmann is again showing his complete disregard for any fiscal responsibility. Earmarks are not a path to unity; they are a road to fiscal ruin for taxpayers. For receiving $236.8 million for the single largest pork-barrel earmark, 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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