Representative Porker of the Month.

Citizens Against Government Waste named Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) July Porker of the Month. Markey accused proponents of federal spending cuts of indifference toward potential victims of weather emergencies. (What happened to racism?)

According to Rep. Markey, reducing expenditures for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – which contains the National Weather Service (NWS) – “will lengthen the time it takes to alert our citizens about an incoming storm, or reduce our ability to give our nation’s farmers the information they need to manage their crops…Yet these kinds of vital capabilities don’t seem to matter to House Republicans.”

Contrary to Rep. Markey’s accusations, spending at NOAA is greater than ever. Its budget is slated to reach $5.5 billion in fiscal year 2012, an increase of 46 percent since 2002.

Moreover, private organizations have been performing many of the functions of NOAA and NWS for decades. Companies like AccuWeather and The Weather Channel disseminate vital weather information on the Internet, television, and radio 24 hours a day.

“Rep. Markey, like many supporters of ever-expanding government spending, is under the impression that every federal outlay is essential. Just as reductions to the National Park Service budget will not automatically cause Abraham Lincoln’s stone likeness in South Dakota to crumble, cuts to NOAA will not abruptly put Americans unwittingly in the path of a tornado or tsunami” CAGW President Tom Schatz commented.

For insinuating that politicians and citizens keen to prevent a fiscal disaster are guilty of apathy toward weather disaster victims, Rep. Markey is the July, 2011 Porker of the Month.