What Next -- Earmarks for Sea Monkeys?

Tim looks at an earmark that's anything but shrimpy.

The ‘At the Trough’ segment continues, and today we feature an earmark that’s anything but shrimpy. Lurking within this year’s omnibus appropriation act swims a $2.9 million earmark designated for shrimp aquaculture research in Arizona, Hawaii, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas. The money directed toward Arizona goes to the University of Arizona’s ongoing research on how to breed shrimp with more protein. Essentially, what we find is that the American Taxpayer is subsidizing the energy drinks and protein bars of shrimp. What a life! To be able to work out all day and breed all evening, all on the taxpayer’s dime! One might be forgiven if they raised an eyebrow as to where this research is to be conducted. The University of Arizona is located in the Sonoran Desert, over sixty miles from the closest major body of water. This body of water is the Wilcox Dry Lake, and, true to what its name would suggest, contains no shrimp. In fact, the closest naturally present shrimp would probably be at least one hundred and fifty miles away from the University’s research facilities. However, it’s unlikely that there is any actual shrimping there, as there is no port. To find the closest American shrimping port, one would probably have to drive over four hundred miles. In 1995 federal earmarks for shrimp aquaculture research totaled $93,000 across five states. A decade and a half later, the American government is spending thirty times more on shrimp. Forrest Gump would have been thrilled. One thing is for sure: this earmark is a by-catch of pork-barrel politics that I’d like to release immediately.