FEATURE/Magazine Roasts Pennsylvania's 'Prince of Pork'; Bud Shuster Leads Congress On Frenzied Spending Sprees; High-living Highway Czar is Key Roadblock to Tax-cut Hopes.

PLEASANTVILLE, NY--(BUSINESS WIRE FEATURES)--Oct. 1, 1999--

E.G. "Bud" Shuster devoutly agrees that it's better to give than receive -- especially if he can do the giving with your tax dollars.

Reader's Digest calls Shuster "the most powerful Congressman you've never heard of." And in its October 1999 issue, the magazine tells why his budget-busting binges threaten taxpayers' hopes for any kind of break.

Representing a mostly rural, mountainous district, the Pennsylvania Republican shuns the media limelight. But as chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, he commands the flow of billions of tax dollars.

"I'm in the making-friends business," Shuster says, with a smile undimmed by looming ethics allegations.

And Washington's Prince of Pork does indeed make a lot of friends, from both political parties. When he pushed through last year's mammoth, $217 billion highway spending bill -- including $110 million just for his district -- he ensured colleagues' support by dangling plenty of pork for their districts as well.

Oklahoma Republican Tom Cogburn called it "a vote-buying scheme," but the vast majority in Congress nosed right up to the trough. Shuster crushed Ohio Republican John Kasich's proposal to cut the gas tax instead.

Now, warns Reader's Digest contributor Eric Felten, Shuster has his eye on that big, juicy surplus the government is suddenly running. His latest grab is a $57 billion aviation bill, loaded with goodies for just about every commercial airport in the country.

Shuster's plan would "force us to renege on our promise for early tax reduction," Texas Republican Bill Archer protested in vain as the airport bill passed the House this spring.

"The highway bill was the first test of how we handle the surplus," lamented Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.). "If we repeat the model Bud set, we're going to spend the surplus on indefensible programs."

As Reader's Digest reports, Shuster has been running a surplus of his own -- millions in campaign contributions that he really doesn't need in his safe, south-central Keystone State district.

What does he do with it all? This Prince of Pork and his associates live high on the hog -- private jets, luxury hotels, limos . . . and plenty of booze. His 1996 campaign spent $60,000 at liquor stores alone.

His constituents don't seem to mind the lavish lifestyle. But how will they respond to allegations about his personal and professional life?

-- The House Ethics Committee is investigating Shuster's campaign

financing. -- Shuster reportedly backed a plan to move a National Guard

helicopter unit to an airport run by a longtime friend and

contributor (who also happened to employ Shuster's daughter and

is a business partner with his two sons). -- Shuster's longtime chief fund-raiser and confidante, lobbyist Ann

Eppard, is awaiting trial for influence peddling while Shuster's

chief of staff. Shuster, though unnamed, turns up throughout the

indictment, which alleges Eppard solicited payments from people

seeking legislative favors. -- Shuster's frequent stays at Eppard's suburban Washington

townhouse may violate House ethics rules on accepting gifts from

lobbyists. Eppard's lobbying firm was able to bill clients more

than $2 million last year -- benefiting, perhaps, from her

unrivaled access to a man with billions of dollars to spend. And

meanwhile, with Shuster spreading those billions around,

pork-barrel spending is hitting record levels on Capitol Hill.

"Soon we will wake up with an ever bigger government, and an economy that isn't strong enough to fund it all," warns South Carolina's Rep. Graham.

While that economy does remain strong, Congress has a rare opportunity: give taxpayers a break, while still being able to keep the government in the black. But that's not going to happen if Congress continues on its record spending spree -- led by Bud Shuster, the nation's Prince of Pork.

Sound off about Congressional pork onwww.readersdigest.com.