Pork, anyone?

Anyone smell bacon? No, we're not talking about the police this time: According to Citizens Against Government Waste, Texas ranks fourth in the nation in terms of congressional pork with $403 million in earmarks for 262 projects last year. It's the fourth-highest total amount, but Texas ranks 47th in the country in terms of pork per capita, receiving an average of $17.65 per person. (For the record, Houstonist hasn't seen our share yet, but we'll be patient.)

The watchdog group released its annual report yesterday, highlighting 375 pork-barrel projects across the country. One in Texas was a combined $18 million in earmarks for Fort Hood, which included $6.8 million for a new fitness center (the base already has six fitness centers, but hey, can you really have too many?). Rep. John Carter, R-Round Rock, said the center is "a real need for the war-fighters of this nation" and added that he's "not ashamed of any of my earmarks." OK, fair enough, but it might be harder for Rep. Vernon Ehlers, a Michigan Republican, to explain the million dollars he earmarked for the Waterfree Urinal Conservation Initiative. (The WUCI is part of a growing amount of technology-related pork that also included a failed request for $1 million for a Virtual Reality Spray Paint Simulator System. Ah yes, of course.)

California leads the nation in total pork money, drawing in $734 million; Alaska is first in per-capita pork, getting $490 per resident (of course, Alaska only has 664,000 residents, but that still totals more than $325 million). Nationally, pork spending rose 6.2 percent in 2005 and has increased 29 percent since 2003; last year, Congress approved 9,963 pork projects worth $29 billion.