Napolitano, Schatz touted McCain as one of “very few members” of Congress who oppose government pork

Written by Ben Fishel

Published

Fox News' Andrew P. Napolitano uncritically touted Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) as one of few members of Congress who are able to reject pork-barrel government projects. Napolitano made these remarks during a conversation with Tom Schatz, the president of Citizens against Government Waste, who also said that McCain is one of the “very few” lawmakers “who don't take these kinds of projects.” In fact, McCain recently introduced a bill to spend $10 million in federal money to establish an Arizona law center in tribute to late Supreme Court Justice William H. Rehnquist, which critics have argued is a “classic” pork-barrel project that “funnel[s] money directly to a home-state institution for a project that should find financing elsewhere.”

During the April 5 broadcast of the Westwood One's The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly, guest host and Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew P. Napolitano uncritically touted Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) as one of few members of Congress who are able to reject pork-barrel government projects by saying, “No, this isn't in the Constitution, and I'm not gonna use my power to take tax dollars and spend it.” Napolitano made these remarks during a conversation with Tom Schatz, the president of Citizens against Government Waste, who asserted that McCain is one of the “very few” lawmakers “who don't take these kinds of projects.” Neither Napolitano or Schatz mentioned, as Media Matters for America has noted, that McCain recently introduced a bill to spend $10 million in federal money to establish an Arizona law center in tribute to late Supreme Court Justice William H. Rehnquist, which critics have argued is a “classic” pork-barrel project that “funnel[s] money directly to a home-state institution for a project that should find financing elsewhere.”

From the April 5 broadcast of Westwood One's The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly:

NAPOLITANO: So, the Congress actually votes on legislation that its members haven't read, haven't debated, don't understand, but are just willing to sort of accept on faith that Sparta, North Carolina, needs a half a million dollars for a teacup museum?

SCHATZ: Well, in many cases, they vote on the bills and accept them even though they may not like the total amount, because they have some projects. There are very few members -- and two of them were at our press event earlier today, Senator Tom Coburn [R] of Oklahoma, Senator John McCain of Arizona -- who don't take these kinds of projects. But they are --

NAPOLITANO: Congressman Ron Paul [R] of Texas.

SCHATZ: Right. Ron Paul of Texas, [Rep.] Jeff Flake [R] of Arizona, but we're talking about a handful of members of Congress who will stand up to this type of wasteful spending.

[...]

NAPOLITANO: Is, is there something about Potomac fever? Is there something about living or working or being part of the governing class on Capitol Hill that makes it almost impossible to do what Senator Coburn, Senator McCain, my friend and hero Congressman Ron Paul, do, which is just simply say, “No, this isn't in the Constitution, and I'm not gonna use my power to take tax dollars and spend it on it?”