Bacon Bridge

by: susanthe

Wed Dec 01, 2010 at 16:58:46 PM EST

• $730 million for assorted projects at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

• $230 million to construct a federal prison in Berlin.

• $63 million for a coastal research center at the University of New Hampshire.

• $56 million to protect wetlands around the Great Bay.

• $34 million for a program to modernize electronic devices in police cruisers.

• $34 million for an atmosphere and climate change research program at UNH.

• $16 million for the protection of Lake Umbagog.

• $15 million for land acquisition in the White Mountain National Forest.

• $14 million for a research center on crimes against children at UNH.

• $12 million for an anti-gang efforts in the state.

• $5 million for the Weather Discovery Center at Mount Washington.

Jan Nisbet, UNH's senior vice provost for research, estimated that Gregg helped secure about $400 million for UNH-based programs over the years.

Gregg certainly isn't the king of earmarks in the Senate, but the bacon he's brought home has been helpful to our state.  In fact, some of that bacon got a bridge named after him in Manchester, while a certain anti-earmark new Congressman was mayor of the Queen City.

In spite of Judd's history of bringing it home, he voted yesterday for a 3 year moratorium on earmarks. The moratorium was defeated: 56 - 39.

Earmarks account for less than 2% of the budget, but they're a good way to gin up the voters about "bridges to nowhere," as opposed to telling voters the truth about the trillion dollars that  we've spent on wars in the last decade, and the costs of funding our 1400 or so military bases.

Our brave new earmark fighter, Frank Guinta, has already announced his opposition to federal funding for the repairs needed to the Memorial Bridge that runs between Portsmouth and Kittery, ME. The cost of repairs to all three of  the bridges between Portsmouth and Maine are an estimated  $620 million. Guinta said he wanted to look at "other funding sources." Perhaps he has another, fatter, forgotten bank account.

Will Guinta stick to his newly pork free guns? Luckily for Judd Gregg, he'll be unemployed, so he won't have to.