The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "pork barrel" ...
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Earmarks To Nowhere
Just when you thought you had read every outrageous story about congressional pork, last year USA TODAY revealed $13 billion in "orphan earmarks"- highway spending directed to pet projects but never spent. For states, this uncooked pork came at a tremendous cost: almost $7.5 billion of the earmarked money was taken directly out of the state's direct highway funding- meaning states literally lost billions they could have spent to improve or build bridges and highways.
Tags: pork barreling; earmarks; highway; money; orphan earmarks
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In Harm's Way
This investigation shows how the lack of supplies and maintenance of equipment affected National Guard troops in Iraq. It also shows "how irresponsible pork-barrel spending by Congress has given the Pentagon no other choice but to raid some of the very accounts that pay for equipment and maintenance."
Tags: war; Iraq; National Guard; War on Terror; soldiers
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Corporate America's Secret Money Trail: "Dirty Money, Clean Banks" , "The $150 Billion Shell Game", "Homeland Security Pork Barrel"
"These three stories document different ways that the largest U.S. corporations break laws and don't get prosecuted, use secret Cayman Island dummy companies to avoid paying taxes, and place top executives on Presidential Advisory boards that award their companies billions of dollars in federal contracts."
Tags: corporate fraud; taxes; Coke; Intel; Cayman Islands; J.P. Morgan; Wells Fargo; banks; money laundering
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Government Waste
A look into numerous areas of government spending, focusing on cases of what many consider to be a waste of tax dollars.
Tags: taxes; government waste; pork barrel; government spending; TAPE; TRANSCRIPT
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Pigging Out
A National Journal investigation looks at the new developments in the "age-old practice of lawmakers pledging their support for key legislation in exchange for federally funded projects in their districts." The tradition, known as "pork barrel spending," isn't likely to die, even though Republicans who seized Congress in 1994 wouldn't put up with it, the magazine reports. The story reveals that most GOP revolutionaries have been trying to steer money for roads and bridges toward their districts in exchange for supporting the new transportation bill. The article provides insight on how funding for infrastructure has changed over the years.
Tags: transportation; lawmakers; politicians; GOP; Republicans; Democrats; pet projects; highways; gas tax; federal funds
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Weapons of Mass Confusion: How pork trumps preparedness in the fight against terrorism
The 1995 sarin gas attack that killed 12 people and injured 5,000 others on a Tokyo subway alerted U.S. officials to the potential for biological and chemical terrorism on U.S. soil. In 1996, Congress passed the Defense Against Weapons of Mass Destruction Act of 1996, which authorized spending billions to prepare local officials for attacks and to create specialized military response teams. Now, five years after the law was passed, Green writes, pork-barrel politics has prevented the anti-terrorism effort from fulfilling its duties. "The billions of dollars spent to prepare for an attack has only created an expensive and uncoordinated mess...In the end, more than 40 agencies, overseen by a dozen congressional committees, received a role in the nation's terrorism defense plan. The waste was enormous...The (law) spawned 90 different programs for the single purpose of training local officials. Today they compete just to find clients." After 3 years and $137 million, the U.S. Army National Guard team that was designated to respond to terrorist attacks, has not yet been certified by the Defense Department as ready for duty.
Tags: Defense Against Weapons of Mass Destruction Act; Nunn-Lugar-Domenici Act; domestic terrorism; Aum Shinrikyo cult; Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team; chemical weapons; biological weapons; pork barrel politics; U.S. Army National Guard
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Congress Gives Colleges a Billion-Dollar Bonanza
"The project examined pork-barrel funds steered to specific colleges and universities by Congress for the 2000 fiscal year. Our analysis found that Congress directed government agencies to spend $1.044 billion for such projects, a record amount . . . Although these projects- known as "directed appropriations" or "earmarks"- are increasingly common, some government officials and scholars say that most of them offer little value." Critics claim that "by giving money to specific home-state institutions rather than federal programs that award grants based on scientific merit and competition, lawmakers waste money and neglect critical research needs."
Tags: colleges; funding; earmarking; pork-barrel funds
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The Gender Gap: Georgia Girls Face Uneven Playing Fields
An Atlanta Journal-Constitution 8-part special report reveals that 27 years after Title IX became federal law, "gender equity still is not the standard in most Georgia high schools. Not even close." The investigation found that coaches of boys sports receive the majority of the financial support. The report examines why only 36 percent of high school girls participate in sports as compared to 64 percent of boys.
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The Pork Barrel Barons
U.S. News & World Report reports that "In an attempt to spotlight how Congress spends taxpayer money on often-questionable projects, U.S. News examined a year's worth of appropriations voted by the House Public Works and Transportation Committee. The panel authorizes more than $50 billion in public spending annually, and the U.S. News review documented how much of that went toward wasteful projects or projects whose only justification was political self-interest of committee members."
Tags: politics taxes spending conflict of interest constituents favoritism Congressmen decision making
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No title (id: 10416)
American Prospect describes how spending to rebuild after disasters has exactly the same economic effect as economic stimulus packages meant to jump-start the economy; shows how politicians who decried the latter as pork barrel politics and unworkable later took credit when the former had exactly the same results that they denied would follow; focuses on the L.A. earthquake in 1994 but mentions other disasters as well.