Porkbusters was an effort led by mostly

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

and

libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

gers to cut

pork barrel ''Pork barrel'', or simply ''pork'', is a metaphor for the appropriation of government spending for localized projects secured solely or primarily to bring money to a representative's district. The usage originated in American English, and i ...

spending by the

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...

used to help pay for projects. The effort was launched on September 18, 2005, after the massive scale of the reconstruction effort necessary for the areas devastated by

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

had become apparent. It quickly picked up steam as blogger

Glenn Reynolds Glenn Harlan Reynolds (born August 27, 1960) is Beauchamp Brogan Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Tennessee College of Law, and is known for his American politics blog, ''Instapundit''. Authorship Instapundit blog Reynolds ...

(aka "

Instapundit Instapundit is a blog maintained by Glenn Reynolds, a law professor at the University of Tennessee. History and characteristics InstaPundit was launched in August 2001 as an experiment, and a part of Reynolds' class on Internet law. After the Sep ...

") began promoting the idea and the influential-though- anonymous blogger NZ Bear set up a website showing which members of the U.S. Congress had committed to cutting projects in their own districts to help offset the disaster recovery effort. Reynolds encouraged his readers to send him copies of pork-cutting letters they send to their representatives and Senators, along with the responses from the elected officials. He then posted them on his website under the heading "Porkbusters Update". In operation for less than six weeks, as of October 13, 2005 the project managed to garner $84,000,000 in specific budget cut commitments out of various Representatives and non-specific agreements out of many more. In addition, those Representatives who had been contacted and had negative responses are highlighted and their contact information was made available for their constituents.

Coburn Amendment

The Porkbusters project endorsed the Coburn Amendment. Officially titled the ''Coburn Amendment to the Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development appropriations bill''
HR 3058
), the Coburn Amendment was a bill proposed by Senator

Tom Coburn Thomas Allen Coburn (March 14, 1948 – March 28, 2020) was an American politician and physician who served as a United States senator for Oklahoma from 2005, until his resignation in 2015. A Republican, he previously served as a United St ...

that would divert money from the transportation bill, specifically the $220 million for the

Gravina Island Bridge The Gravina Island Bridge, commonly referred to as the "Bridge to Nowhere", was a proposed bridge to replace the ferry that currently connects the town of Ketchikan, Alaska, United States, with Gravina Island, an island that contains the Ketchikan ...

in Alaska to the reconstruction of the "Twin Spans" bridge in

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

. The amendment was defeated 82–15.

Next phase

On October 30, 2005, N.Z. Bear posted an entry to his blog entitled The Next Phase of Porkbusters. In it he said: In December 2005, Senator Coburn had the Porkbuster logo on his site, along with a separate page listing his Porkbuster efforts, though Porkbusters had a few setback when Senator Sununu lost his Senate seat in 2008 and when Senator McCain voted on the highly controversial

Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, often called the "bank bailout of 2008", was proposed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, passed by the 110th United States Congress, and signed into law by President George W. Bush. It became ...

, which is thought to have worsened their fight against pork. In August 2006, Porkbusters,

Talking Points Memo ''Talking Points Memo'' (''TPM'') is a liberal political news and opinion website created and run by Josh Marshall that debuted on November 12, 2000. The name is a reference to the memo (short list) consisting of the issues (points) discussed by ...

and other blogs from across the political spectrum worked together to support the proposed Obama-Coburn

Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (S. 2590) is an Act of Congress that requires the full disclosure to the public of all entities or organizations receiving federal funds beginning in fiscal year (FY) 2007. The websit ...

(S. 2590). "Secret holds" placed on the bill were eventually tracked down to Senators

Ted Stevens Theodore Fulton Stevens Sr. (November 18, 1923 – August 9, 2010) was an American politician and lawyer who served as a U.S. Senator from Alaska from 1968 to 2009. He was the longest-serving Republican Senator in history at the time he left ...

and

Robert Byrd Robert Carlyle Byrd (born Cornelius Calvin Sale Jr.; November 20, 1917 – June 28, 2010) was an American politician and musician who served as a United States senator from West Virginia for over 51 years, from 1959 until his death in 2010. A ...

. The bill became law in September 2006.

References

Political organizations based in the United States Advocacy groups in the United States Internet memes Libertarian organizations based in the United States