Lean diet for pork-rich 3rd?

The 3rd Congressional District is getting more federal stimulus money than any district in Tennessee — a state where studies indicate more money is received from Washington, D.C., than is paid in federal taxes.

But for all of Uncle Sam’s generosity to the East Tennessee district, many of the leading candidates wanting to represent the 3rd District in Congress are campaigning to cut federal spending and end attempts by individual members of Congress to secure more money for special, local projects through earmark appropriations.

Chattanooga attorney Chuck Fleischmann and Hixson health care consultant Robin Smith — the two Republican candidates who are spending the most money to win the seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn. — traded barbs again Wednesday over which candidate is more against earmarks and limits on federal spending.

Smith, former chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party, opposed the federal stimulus package last year and signed a pledge with Citizens Against Government Waste to not seek any congressional earmarks.

With the federal debt now topping $13 trillion, Smith criticized Fleischmann for what she claims are inconsistent statements about federal spending and for not signing the pledge against seeking any earmarked appropriations for local projects.

“We have to tighten our belts and the first place to start is the authorization and appropriation process,” Smith said. “I’m very happy to stand on the merits of the federal projects in this district and put forth good projects if they are prioritized.”

Fleischmann insisted Wednesday that he also is against all earmarks and his biggest campaign issue is “stopping the runaway spending in Washington.”

“I think we need to totally redo the appropriations process to make it a much more fiscally conservative process,” he said.

Fleischmann even accused Smith of taking “earmarks” in her campaign, using the term in reference to bundled contributions given to Smith by the conservative national group Club for Growth.

Congressional earmarks, however, refer to appropriations that are designated by one or a handful of lawmakers without going through the usual committee and appropriation process.

In the current fiscal year, 80 federal projects across Tennessee are collectively getting $90.5 million from congressional earmarks, according to Citizens Against Government Waste.

Wamp, a member of the House Appropriations Committee who is running for Tennessee governor, joined with other House Republicans and didn’t request more earmarks for next year. But last year, Wamp helped with 14 earmark projects that funneled $34.5 million to projects across the state.

Heavy federal footprint

Until last year, Wamp followed the example of his Democratic predecessor in working for earmarks to help local projects in his district.

As home to Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the largest U.S. Department of Energy lab, and to TVA, the biggest presence of the nation’s largest government utility, the federal footprint is heavier in the 3rd District than in most of America.

Retired Congresswoman Marilyn Lloyd, the Chattanooga Democrat who represented Tennessee’s 3rd District from 1975 to 1995, said federal funding is key to East Tennessee.

“When you have a district with the federal facilities that we have, you have to have earmarks,” Lloyd said. “I was very proud of my earmarks for this district, which kept many projects and programs going — from roads and bridges, to downtown development to Room at the Inn in Chattanooga.”

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga political science professor Rick Wilson said half the bridges across the Tennessee River in Chattanooga and many of the high-tech research projects in Oak Ridge were added from federal projects and earmarks backed by Rep. Lloyd.

“Voters are upset about federal deficits and spending, but they usually think that the wasteful spending is in some other part of the country and not in their congressional district,” he said.

A study by the Tax Foundation that reviewed tax payments and federal spending estimates Tennessee gets more back from Washington, D.C., than its residents pay in taxes.

In 2005, the most recent year for which available data was analyzed, the Washington, D.C.-based Tax Foundation said the typical Tennessean paid $6,041 in federal taxes while Uncle Sam spent a per capita average of $8,132 in Tennessee.

Tennesseans paid less in taxes, on average, because of lower average wages and investment income, the foundation said, but federal spending in the state was comparable to the national average.

Through the first quarter of 2010, the federal stimulus program adopted by Congress in February 2009 funded nearly $1.3 billion of projects in Tennessee’s 3rd Congressional District, more than twice the average funding level for other districts in the state.

Candidate views

Most of the Republicans running for Congress in the GOP-leaning 3rd District said they were against the $787 billion stimulus package pushed by President Barack Obama during his first month in office or the health care reform plan adopted this year.

Bradley County Sheriff Tim Gobble and former congressional aide Art Rhodes, a Cleveland businessman, both criticized the stimulus and health care reform plans and urged reform of the earmark and appropriation process in Congress.

But they both vowed to fight for federal funding of such projects as the Chickamauga lock in Chattanooga, Corridor K highway in Polk County and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

“The No. 1 issue in this campaign is runaway federal spending and we have to deal with that,” Rhodes said. “But these are national priorities.”

Gobble said he supports reform of how earmarks are used. But he said he would fight for federally funded infrastructure such as the Chickamauga lock or national security like what the work done in Oak Ridge.

“I think we can stimulate the economy with appropriate types of federal spending, but government can’t be all things to all people and it has gotten too big,” he said.

But Van Irion, a self-described constitutional conservative, said he wants the federal government to abolish the Department of Education, the Federal Reserve Board and other functions not in the constitution.

“If we eliminate federal government functions for which there is no constitutional authority, there will be a surplus in the budget to pay down the national debt and we will not be responsible for passing on a crushing burden to our children and grandchildren,” he said.

Federal presence in the 3rd district

* Oak Ridge: The largest U.S. Department of Energy laboratory and one of the biggest government facilities for making nuclear weapons are both in Anderson County in the 3rd Congressional District. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Y-12 weapons plant and the cleanup of the former K-25 uranium enrichment facility collectively receive more than $3 billion a year in federal funds.

* TVA: The 3rd District is home to much of the largest federal utility and more TVA employees than any other district. Although the Tennessee Valley Authority no longer gets direct federal financial support, the federally owned agency enjoys the implied backing of the federal government to borrow money more cheaply than private utilities and it doesn’t pay taxes, which private companies do.

* Chickamauga Lock: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is spending more than $3 million a year to maintain its existing lock and is nearing the mid-point in what could end up as a $600 million new and bigger lock at the Chickamauga Dam

* Corridor K: A proposed U.S. Appalachian Regional Commission highway from Chattanooga to Asheville, N.C., will cost up to $2.3 billion, 80 percent of which would come from the federal government.