Local projects targeted in federal spending bill

Is it pork from the barrel or manna from heaven?

It all depends on who is doing the dining -- and where.

Projects in four local communities -- Franklin, Needham, Newton, and Waltham -- stand to get $4.1 million from Washington, part of a $388 billion spending bill expected to clear Congress tomorrow.

Included are $2 million for revamping an Interstate 95 interchange in Waltham; $1 million for a building at Brandeis; $350,000 for a Newton-based cancer research institute; and $300,000 to make the Auburndale T stop more accessible to handicapped riders.

The 1,690-page bill has drawn fire from watchdog groups that say it contains numerous pork-barrel projects inserted to win the support of individual lawmakers. Among those that have been singled out are $70,000 for a Paper Industry International Hall of Fame in Appleton, Wis.; $3 million for the Center for Grape Genetics in Geneva, N.Y.; and $2 million to buy a presidential yacht first used by Herbert Hoover and sold by Jimmy Carter.

"If it's not in your hometown, you think it's pork," said Tom Schatz, president of the Washington-based Citizens Against Government Waste. "And even when it is in your hometown, some people think it's pork."

Local legislators say there may be wasteful spending, but not here.

"Are there things in other parts of the country that people label pork? Sure," said Joe Dalton, a spokesman for US Representative Edward J. Markey, a Malden Democrat whose district includes Waltham. "But I don't think it applies to our projects."

The I-95 project involves building a new road to connect Main Street in Waltham directly with the highway, significantly reducing traffic in Tavern Square and the Cedarwood neighborhood. Construction will not begin for several years, however, because more money is needed.

The Brandeis money would help build a new $25 million facility to house graduate-level health programs at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management. The money, which Markey and Senator Edward M. Kennedy helped secure, is part of $484.6 million appropriated for construction and renovation projects on health care-related buildings at hospitals and universities.

"This is unlike these earmarks you hear about for the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame," said Jack Shonkoff, dean of the Heller School. "This is from an account designated for health care-related projects."

For some groups, the federal money provides a lifeline.

In 2002, the state cut funding for breast cancer research, which cost the Silent Spring Institute $1 million a year, or two-thirds of its annual operating budget.

The institute, which for a decade has been studying why women on Cape Cod have an above-average rate of breast cancer, was forced to redirect much of its time to fund-raising and cost-cutting.

"This is very important to us, and I'm very grateful to the Massachusetts delegation," said Julia Brody, executive director of the institute. "We're not a big hospital; we're not a big university. We're small and struggling."

Brody said that Congress rejected a $650,000 request last year. After requesting the same amount this year, the institute was appropriated $350,000.

The organization also receives grants from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the National Library of Medicine, and the National Cancer Institute.

Since 1991, Citizens Against Government Waste has annually ranked each state by the amount of funding it receives.

Last year, Massachusetts ranked 39th on a per capita basis, receiving $120.7 million, or $18.77 per resident, according to the group's calculations.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle boast about the projects they help secure for their constituents.

There is often little or no debate over the funding requests, many of which are added during conference committee negotiations, Schatz said.

While acknowledging that many projects may be justified, he faults the process for involving too little scrutiny and too many political favors.

"It's never talked about, so you don't know whether or not [a project] is worthwhile," he said. "So that's why we point to the process rather than the merits. Because we don't know the merits."

"It's all in the eye of the beholder," said Michael Mershon, press secretary for US Representative James P. McGovern, a Worcester Democrat. "If federal money is being distributed, we're going to fight to make sure Central and Southern Mass. get their fair share." McGovern helped obtain $150,000 for Dean College to use toward increasing the use of Tablet PC technology in the classroom.

The college's application said the program could be used to help students with disabilities because a screen projection is easier to view and comprehend than a chalkboard, and the material can be downloaded to students' computers.

Matt Viser can be reached at viser@globe.com.