[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 18]
[House]
[Page 26458]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                        PORKER OF THE WEEK AWARD

  (Mr. HEFLEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Speaker, once again the Federal Government is playing 
a shell game with taxpayers' money. The Department of the Interior has 
been diverting millions of dollars collected from excise taxes on 
hunting and fishing equipment to controversial environmental projects.
  Congress dictated that the taxes collected be sent back to the States 
to fund wildlife and sports fishing restoration management programs. 
However, Fish and Wildlife Service officials diverted money meant to 
administer programs into a slush fund to pay for 75 pet projects that 
are not related to hunting. The projects include $385,000 for the 
spotted owl, $429,000 for Atlantic salmon; $292,000 on wolf programs; 
$116,000 on the blackfoot ferret; and $791,000 for marine mammals.
  Now, some of these may be good projects, but that is not what 
Congress gave the money for. It is estimated that more than $45 million 
has been diverted and much of it wasted by the Fish and Wildlife 
agency. The Fish and Wildlife Service gets my ``Porker of the Week 
Award.''

                          ____________________