Iowa
Watchdog group, GOP U.S. House members blast ‘reckless’ earmark spending • Iowa Capital Dispatch
WASHINGTON – A group opposed to wasteful government spending and a handful of U.S. House Republicans warned at a Wednesday press event that project-specific spending known as earmarks was contributing to an increase in the national debt.
The event to discuss the Citizens Against Government Waste’s latest annual report, titled the 2024 Congressional Pig Book and released Wednesday, highlighted congressional earmarks and called on lawmakers to rein in government spending.
Leaders of the nonpartisan organization, which works to oppose “waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government,” according to its website, were joined by Republican House members and a live potbelly pig to address earmarks and rising debt limits.
The organization’s annual pig book highlights earmarks, often called “pork.” An earmark is a project-specific funding allocation approved by Congress through the annual appropriations process.
The group identified 8,222 earmarks for fiscal year 2024, totaling $22.7 billion. That’s 13% less than fiscal year 2023 but still the fifth-highest spending year for earmarks since the CAGW began releasing its annual report in 1991.
Republicans ended the controversial spending practice in 2011 after winning control of the House. A decade later, Democrats and Republicans voted to allow earmarked spending again.
Defenders of the practice say it allows members of Congress, who know the needs of their states and districts, to respond with specific funding. The projects comprise a small portion of total federal spending. And lawmakers have a chance to vote on them as part of appropriations bills.
But some Republicans continue to oppose them. Four members on Wednesday gave a similar rationale Wednesday as Republicans did when they eliminated earmarks in 2011, calling them a form of wasteful government spending that’s adding to a rising national debt.
Rep. Bob Good, a Republican from Virginia, stressed how much debt the country continues to accumulate.
“Here we are with $35 trillion in debt,” he said. “After it took us about 200 years to accumulate the first trillion, now we’re accumulating a trillion every four months or so.”
Data from the U.S. Department of the Treasury and a CNBC analysis confirms these amounts.
Good, the chair of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, criticized his party for passing a 2023 law to suspend the debt limit. The measure allowed Congress to appropriate “as much as we can joyfully, gleefully spend together,” Good said.
Speakers at the event, which included Reps. Debbie Lesko of Arizona, Ralph Norman of South Carolina and Tom McClintock of California as well as Good, shared the sentiment that permanently ditching earmarks would help restore Republicans’ reputation as the “fiscally responsible” party.
“Republicans cannot reclaim the mantle of fiscal responsibility until we end once and for all this reckless and self-indulgent practice,” McClintock said.
Maine and Alaska benefit
Members also spoke to the disproportionate allocation of earmarked spending in Congress.
CAGW President Tom Schatz opened Wednesday’s event by highlighting who in Congress received the most funding in earmarks this fiscal year. Earmarks are required to have a sponsor in the House and Senate.
Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine and ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, took home the most bacon this year with 231 earmarks totaling $576 million.
That total was almost 24% more than the legislator with the second-highest number of earmarks, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska who is also on the Appropriations Committee. Murkowski’s 185 earmarks amounted to $466 million.
Members of the appropriations committees in the House and Senate, which write the annual spending laws, gained much more in earmarks than the average member, the report notes.
“Earmarks continue to provide the most benefit to the most powerful legislators,” Schatz said.
The rest of the top five were Sen. Angus King of Maine, Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. King caucuses with Democrats, though he is an independent.
Together, these five senators received 10.3% of all earmark spending in fiscal 2024, but make up less than 1% of all members of Congress.
Senators generally won more earmarked spending than their House counterparts, with 37 of the top 40 lawmakers by dollar amount coming from the Senate.
Schatz also spoke to the differences between the parties. Nearly all – 99.6% – congressional Democrats took advantage of the spending practice, while only 62.4% of Republicans did.
The CAGW president also noted an uneven distribution of funding among states and territories.
States with smaller populations receive more “pork per capita,” with Alaska taking the top spot at $645 in earmark spending per person. Maine, with $434 per person, and Hawaii at $336, followed.
The bottom three jurisdictions included Indiana at $4.32 per person, Puerto Rico at $3.67 per person and North Dakota, which received no earmarks.
‘Legalized bribery’
McClintock pointed to earmarks as a cause of corruption in Congress. He said if a project is worthy of funding, it will receive the money under “open, competitive bidding.”
“Worthy projects in open, competitive bidding don’t need earmarks,” he said. “They rise or fall on their merits.”
Good further supported McClintock’s claim of corruption, saying earmarks entice members to vote on legislation to benefit their districts.
“Make no mistake about it,” Good said. “Earmarks are used to buy bad votes for bad bills.”
He added that committee chairs often find earmarks much more rewarding. Appropriations subcommittee chairs can add earmarked funds into spending bills to entice their colleagues to pass a bill, Good said.
“Folks, this is nothing but legalized bribery,” Norman said.
Lesko said celebrating legislators that bring home earmarks makes government spending increase.
“The people like Tom [McClintock] and I and others that actually want to reduce government spending, so it’s responsible, aren’t celebrated at all,” she said.
She pointed the finger at her fellow Arizona representative, Democrat Greg Stanton, after he secured a $700,000 earmark to renovate an economics and business finance program for fourth, fifth and sixth graders.
“Now, is this coming from his bank account?” Lesko said. “No, it’s coming from your bank account.”
Asked Wednesday about Lesko’s comment, a spokesperson for Stanton replied with a written statement from last month’s earmark announcement.
In the release, Stanton said the funding “is an investment in the future of Arizona’s children.”
McClintock closed the press conference by advocating to once again put an end to earmarks.
He referred to former House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican who was instrumental in banning earmarks in 2011.
“It can be done,” he said. “It has been done, it will need to be done again.”
IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) – Iowa City police are asking the public’s help identifying persons of interest connected to a vandalism investigation.
Police said a business was vandalized in the alley behind the 200 block of East Washington Street on Sunday at 2:35 a.m.
Investigators would like to speak with the persons of interest pictured. Police ask anyone who recognizes these individuals to contact them.
Anyone with information or security camera footage of the incident should contact the Iowa City Police Department at 319-356-5275. Iowa City Area Crime Stoppers is also offering a reward up to $1,000 for information that leads to an arrest.
Copyright 2026 KCRG. All rights reserved.
Iowa State football coach Jimmy Rogers assesses the Cyclones’ spring
Iowa State football coach Jimmy Rogers assesses the Cyclones’ spring
Spring commencement arrives at Iowa State this weekend, with a whole new generation of Cyclones set to get their diplomas and move on to the next things in their lives.
The options and choices will set their path for, potentially, the years and decades ahead.
Which got me thinking about the choices and circumstances of this school year that came for Iowa State athletics. There were no shortages of inflection points at which, it seems, programs and an entire athletics department pivoted to new directions.
Let’s explore.
What if Iowa State had hired Taylor Mouser as head football coach?
This seems to be the most discussed “Sliding Doors” moment for Iowa State football fans regarding head coach Matt Campbell’s departure to Penn State. And with good reason. It’s the most obvious, could have had the most immediate impact on the program and would have been largely seen as a continuation of the most successful run in school history.
Would promoting the Iowa State offensive coordinator, though, have been the right move?
If you assume a best-case scenario in which some of the star Cyclone players on offense – think Rocco Becht, Ben Brahmer, Carson Hansen, etc. – stay at Iowa State and a bulk of the coaching staff does as well, there are still likely defections that weaken the roster. Nothing like we saw back in December, but, still, there would be holes – and Campbell’s shoes – to fill by a first-time head coach taking over for a legend.
The calculation, as I see it, has to be – does the Year 1 continuity and relative stability gained by hiring Mouser provide for better long-term results than hiring Jimmy Rogers, who has the benefit of head-coaching experience?
It certainly would have made the fan base feel better back in December, but would it have positioned Iowa State to have better results in 2027 and beyond?
The roster almost certainly would have been “better” in 2026 if Iowa State retained Mouser, but would that have created a more solid foundation for the future or just delayed decay?
This “What If” becomes a lot less intricate and interesting if Rogers just wins a ton this fall and going forward.
What if Penn State had been able to hire Kalani Sitake as its football coach?
I think this is the most interesting question on the list.
By reports, Penn State was on the verge of hiring Sitake from BYU when the Cougars’ boosters – led by the Crumbl Cookie fortune – banded together to put together a financial package to keep Sitake in Provo.
What if they hadn’t, though?
Sitake goes to Penn State, and Dec. 5, 2025, is an uneventful day in Iowa State history rather than one of its most feverish.
But … what happens a few weeks later when Sherrone Moore is fired at Michigan?
Rather than plucking 66-year-old Kyle Whittingham from Utah/forced retirement, do the Wolverines try to make a Michigan Man out of an Ohioan? Does Campbell inherit the seat of Bo Schembechler?
And, for the sake of this thought exercise, if Campbell did move to Ann Arbor, does the timing of that decision change athletics director Jamie Pollard’s options and calculus about Iowa State’s opening? Is Jimmy Rogers still available? Or would he have taken a different opening or opted not to leave Pullman at that later date? Is Mouser the answer in this scenario?
Or is the Buckeye State distaste for the state Up North too much and Campbell returns for Year 11 at Iowa State?
Addy Brown on what went wrong in Iowa State’s loss to Syracuse
Iowa State’s Addy Brown talks about her team’s struggles in a loss to Syracuse in the NCAA Tournament.
What if Addy Brown doesn’t get hurt?
Iowa State women’s basketball was 14-0 on Jan. 4 when it played Baylor in Waco, and the season felt sure to realize the potential that was clear before it started with one of coach Bill Fennelly’s best rosters.
The Cyclones, though, returned home with their first loss and with Addy Brown sidelined with a back injury.
Four more losses in a row followed, and when Brown returned to the floor after six weeks, the Cyclones’ season was floundering.
They salvaged an NCAA Tournament bid, but a first-round exit gave way to a roster collapse with nine players – including Brown and superstar Audi Crooks – leaving via the transfer portal, putting Fennelly’s tenure and future under fire.
If Brown doesn’t get hurt – or just isn’t out as long – does that change the trajectory of the season? The offseason? And what the eventual end of Fennelly’s Iowa State career looks like?
What if Joshua Jefferson doesn’t roll his ankle?
The most recent “What If” I think is also the most straightforward.
If Jefferson’s ankle doesn’t roll in the early minutes of Iowa State’s first-round NCAA Tournament blowout win over Tennessee State, I think the Cyclones get a long second weekend in Chicago, but the Final Four drought probably remains intact.
Jefferson’s rebounding and offensive impact are, I think, enough to give the Cyclones the edge against Tennessee, but Michigan, the Cyclones’ would-be Elite Eight opponent, was just a juggernaut.
I’m not sure even a full-strength Iowa State team would have had more than a puncher’s chance. The Wolverines were just one of the best college basketball teams we’ve seen over the last few decades.
Iowa State columnist Travis Hines has covered the Cyclones for the Des Moines Register and Ames Tribune since 2012. Contact him at thines@amestrib.com or (515) 284-8000. Follow him on X at @TravisHines21.
One of the top Iowa high school football prospects in the state has made his college decision official.
Iowa City Regina High School senior-to-be Tate Wallace has announced he has verbally committed to the University of Minnesota in the Big Ten Conference. Wallace picked the Golden Gophers and head coach PJ Fleck over a finalists Notre Dame, Nebraska, Arizona, Arizona State and Wisconsin.
Wallace narrowed down his list of schools to six at the end of April before making his final decision.
Iowa City Regina Football Standout Tate Wallace Ranked As No. 2 Overall Prospect In Iowa High School Football
The 6-foot-2, 226-pound linebacker is considered the No. 2 overall prospect in the state of Iowa for high school football, and is the No. 21 linebacker in the Class of 2027, according to 247Sports.
In the 247Sports Composite rankings, Wallace is No. 2 in Iowa high school football, No. 29 at linebacker and No. 359 for the Class of 2027.
Along With Minnesota, Tate Wallace Currently Holds Offers From Schools Such As Arizona, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Tennessee, Iowa State
Wallace currently holds 16 total offers including from the previously mentioned Minnesota, Notre Dame, Nebraska, Arizona, Arizona State, Wisconsin, Iowa State, Kansas State, Purdue, Tennessee, West Virginia, Eastern Michigan, Miami (Ohio), Toledo, UNLV, North Dakota and North Dakota State.
As a junior, Wallace registered almost 50 tackles on defense, with 29 of them being counted as solo stops. He had 18 tackles for loss, 8.5 quarterback sacks and forced two fumbles, as Iowa City Regina advanced to the state championship game of the Iowa High School Athletic Association State Football Championships.
Future Minnesota Golden Gopher Has Been Key Two-Way Starter For Regals
Wallace also hauled in 40 passes for 611 yards with 10 receiving touchdowns on offense for the Regals. As a two-way player for Iowa City Regina during his sophomore season, Wallace had 27.5 tackles, including 16 solo stops, four tackles for loss and a quarterback sack, adding 51 receptions for 752 yards and eight touchdowns.
Back in March, Wallace announced seven spring visits to Notre Dame, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Arizona, Kansas State and Arizona State. He also visited Tennessee this past fall, taking in an SEC contest with the Volunteers.
Along with his success on the football field, Wallace helped lead the Regals to the Iowa High School Athletic Association Boys State Basketball Tournament this past winter. He earned High School on SI all-state honors in the process.
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