Boucher: Earmarks should be used for public benefit

U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher does not use the word “earmark.”
True, he submits them like his congressional colleagues, but eschews what has become a byword for pork-barrel spending.
“Congressionally directed spending” is how the 9th District Democrat characterizes the $2.7 million he single-handedly secured for 10 projects in his district. He collaborated with House colleagues to get money for additional projects.
“Members of Congress understand the priority needs of their congressional districts better than any other member of government,” Boucher said in a telephone interview last week, endorsing the earmark process with the proper restraints.
Recipients of Boucher’s earmarks range from local law enforcement to universities to a nonprofit providing assistance to the economically needy. Notably, no for-profit entities make the list.
“I do not request funding for any for-profit corporations,” Boucher said. “There have been abuses. Duke Cunningham” – the California congressman convicted of doling out lucrative contracts in exchange for bribes – “comes to mind.”
Boucher, who has held his seat since 1989, said he typically requests money for “public infrastructure, education and essential public services.”
Radford University received nearly $600,000 for two projects in financial year 2008, including “predisaster mitigation” and for a study “establishing the feasibility” of a graduate school in medical sciences, according to a database compiled by the nonpartisan Taxpayers for Common Sense.
The New River Valley Airport in Dublin, Va., got $392,000 for “runway and taxiway rehabilitation.”
The Alleghany Highlands Economic Development Corporation received $282,000 to “develop business assistance software tools.”
The Alleghany County Sheriff’s Department, the Craig County Sheriff’s Office, and the Radford Police Department together received close to $1 million.
The Abingdon-based People Incorporated received $147,000 infusion into a revolving loan fund.
The nonprofit’s mission is to move low-income residents “into the economic mainstream,” according to its Web site, but Boucher said the cash will go into a loan fund to expand tourism opportunities.
The process for this type of federal funding generally grows out of citizen requests that are floated at town hall meetings, which Boucher holds at least once a year, in the 27 counties and cities he represents.
“There is a range of ideas about how federal funding can benefit local government, and the federal government has a role to play in meeting all of these needs,” he said.
Those needs go on a list, which Boucher’s staff works through and prioritizes. 
The 10 projects for which Boucher secured funding represent a fraction – a tenth, on average – of all the projects he submitted to appropriations committees. Given the high degree of competition for money, he and his staff prioritize.
“We decide which are most necessary and produce the largest benefit for the dollars expended, and create a list based on that.”

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