ARS on Twitter
RSS
Smell The Pork
Posted by Raven on March 23rd, 2007
So the Lemoncrats (TM) voted on their infamous Cut & Run Legislation…which passed and will face a certain veto from President Bush. This bill is about Iraq. Here are some of the emergency spending needs that Lemoncrats used to lure and buy the votes:
From the Club For Growth Blog:
Aquaculture Operations: Provides $5 million for payments to “aquaculture operations and other persons in the U.S. engaged in the business of breeding, rearing, or transporting live fish” (such as shellfish, oysters and clams) to cover economic losses incurred as a result of an emergency order issued by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service on October 24, 2006.
Spinach: Provides $25 million for payments to spinach producers that were unable to market spinach crops as a result of the FDA Public Health Advisory issued on September 14, 2006.
Hurricane Citrus Program: Provides $100 million to provide assistance to citrus producers (such as orange producers) in the area declared a disaster related to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
NASA: Provides $35 million to NASA, under the “exploration capabilities” account, for “expenses related to the consequences of Hurricane Katrina.”
Corps of Engineers: Provides $1.3 billion to Corps of Engineers for continued repairs on the levee system in New Orleans.
FEMA: Provides $4.3 billion for disaster relief at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The bill would eliminate the state and local matching requirements for certain FEMA assistance (in connection with Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Wilma, and Dennis) in the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and Florida, and provides that the federal portion of these costs will be 100%.
HUD Indian Housing: Provides $80 million in tenant-based rental assistance for public and Indian housing under HUD. Crop Disaster Assistance: Provides roughly $3 billion in agriculture assistance to crop producers and livestock owners experiencing losses in 2005, 2006, or 2007 due to bad weather.
Shrimp: Provides $120 million to the shrimp industry for expenses related to the consequences of Hurricane Katrina.
Frozen Farmland: Provides $20 million for the cleanup and restoration of farmland damaged by freezing temperatures during a time period beginning on January 1, 2007 through the date of enactment.
Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) Program: Provides $283 million for payments under the MILC program, to extend the life of the program for one year, through September 30, 2008. MILC provides payments to dairy farmers when milk prices fall below a certain rate.
Peanut Storage Subsidies: Provides $74 million to extend peanut storage payments through 2007. The Peanut Subsidy Storage program, which is set to expire this year, pays farmers for the storage, handling, and other costs for peanuts voluntarily placed in the marketing loan program.
FDA Office of Women’s Health: Provides $4 million for the Office of Women’s Health at the Food and Drug Administration.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA): Provides $60.4 million for fishing communities, Indian tribes, individuals, small businesses, including fishermen, fish processors, and related businesses for assistance related to “the commercial fishery failure.” According to the Committee Report, this funding is to be used to provide disaster relief for those along the California and Oregon coast affected by the “2006 salmon fishery disaster in the Klamath River.”
Avian Flu: Provides $969 million for the Department of HHS to continue to prepare and respond to an avian flu pandemic. Of this funding, $870 million is to be used for the development of vaccines.
Secure Rural Schools Act (Forest County Payments): Provides $400 million to be used for one-time payments to be allocated to states under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000. This program provides a funding stream (known as forest county payments) to counties with large amounts of Bureau of Land Management land, in order to compensate for the loss of receipt-sharing payments on this land caused by decreased revenue from timber sales due to environmental protections for endangered species. The authorization for these forest county payments expired at the end of FY 2006, and counties received their last payment under the Act in December 2006.
LIHEAP: Provides $400 million for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).
Vaccine Compensation: Provides $50 million to compensate individuals for injuries caused by the H5N1 vaccine, which is a flu vaccine. Payment to Widow of Rep. Norwood: Provides $165,200 to Gloria W. Norwood, the widow of former Rep. Charlie Norwood (R-GA), an RSC Member, who passed away last month. In the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2005 (H.R. 1268), Congress provided $162,100 to Doris Matsui, the widow of former Rep. Robert Matsui.
Capitol Power Plant: Provides $50 million to the Capitol Power Plant for asbestos abatement and safety improvements. Liberia: Provides that money appropriated for FY 2007 for the Bilateral Economic Assistance program at the Department of Treasury may be used to assist Liberia in retiring its debt arrearages to the International Monetary Fund, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the African Development Bank.
SCHIP: Provides $750 million to the Secretary of HHS to provide assistance to the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) “shortfall states,”, in the form of an amount “as the Secretary determines will eliminate the estimated shortfall.” This provision is direct spending that is essentially capped at $750 million and designated as an emergency to avoid PAYGO constraints.
Minimum Wage Increase: Increases the federal minimum wage from $5.15-per-hour to $7.25-per-hour over two-plus years-a 41% increase. Yields $16.5 billion in private-sector costs over five years.
Tax Increases and Shifts: Implements several tax increases and shifts, including: denying the lowest maximum capital gains tax rate for certain minors and adults, extending the suspension of interest payments due to the IRS, and adjusting the deadlines for corporate estimated tax payments. Costs taxpayers $1.380 billion over the FY2007-FY2017 period.
There we have it. THIS is where the extra (blood) money (that Bush didn’t ask for) goes if Bush doesn’t veto.
March 25th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
The Republicans voted in a man that is responsible for costing us over half a TRILLION dollars on the war in Iraq, and may bankrupt us yet. A man that, frankly, half of America believes is an incompetant simpleton. The US embassy alone in Iraq will be the largest in the world and cost one and a half billion dollars. NOW, do you HONESTLY believe that Iraq needed our largest embassy in the world, if our goal was to simply rid those poor folks of Saddam and give them Democracy? You HONESTLY believe the goal wasn’t perhaps just to establish a permanent presence there? So I’m not happy about the Dems using pork to get what they want, but I’m sure as hell more bugged by half a trillion down the tubes.
Look around at your friends and family who have ever suffered or died from cancer. $500,000,000. could have gone a long way toward a cure.
March 25th, 2007 at 5:47 pm
“The US embassy alone in Iraq will be the largest in the world and cost one and a half billion dollars. NOW, do you HONESTLY believe that Iraq needed our largest embassy in the world…”
Rita, you do realize that there are multiple explanations for putting the largest embassy there. The one that comes to my mind is the exact opposite of what you think we’re doing. My idea is that it needs to be so freaking big and expensive because we will eventually pull out and in such an event it needs to be built like a fortress, instead of a large building with a 1/2 foot thick brick and stucko wall around it.
And honestly, if they can’t get the support they need to pass bills (ANY bill) without adding provisions for unrelated garbage, then they probably shouldn’t pass the bill to begin with. I can take the side deals where a senator will go “hey support my bill and I’ll support yours”, but piling a bunch of BS riders into one thing is dishonest and potentially harmful.
March 25th, 2007 at 6:05 pm
rita, so, are you saying that had the Democrats voted in a different man, we would be spending LESS on the war? If so, you’re right. And we would lose the war, as so many Democrats would like to see happen.
America doesn’t lose. We are winners and it’s not cheap. No war is cheap. According to so many liberals we have gone to this war CHEAP. So, your own words mean more than you think.
March 25th, 2007 at 7:24 pm
Honestly Raven, I truly think that we would have gone into Afganistan and only Afganistan and beat the piss out of the Taliban and Al-Queda. We than would have had a greater chance of killing Osama bin Laden. We would have had the resources to take care of the job fully, instead of the half-assed job we’ve done there, letting Bin Laden get away and turning Afganistan back into the heroin capital of the world, and allowing the resurgence of the Taliban. There WOULD BE no issue of losing the war in Iraq because no one else would have insisted on going into Iraq, Democrat OR Republican. We would not have spend the lives and treasure we’ve spent there, tens if not hundreds of thousands of Iraqis would be alive, we wouldn’t have exhausted our armed forces, and we would not have reinvigorated extremism all over the region. Bush was a chickenhawk with no understanding of what he was getting into. He and Cheney will walk away fat and happy with a big pension, while many will never walk away. Doesn’t that piss you off?
March 25th, 2007 at 7:45 pm
“and turning Afganistan back into the heroin capital of the world”
That’s assuming we’d be doing drug interdiction missions with the troops there instead of leaving it to the locals. Drug intertiction is a thing we have not usually done, even before the invasion of Iraq, since it’s the main source of funding for some of the warlords we wanted/needed in the coalition to smack around the Taliban.
“tens if not hundreds of thousands of Iraqis would be alive”
Assuming they weren’t executed by Sadam, or killed by lack of water reclimation/sewage treatment facilities, and medical supplies because of Oil For Food program corruption.
“we wouldn’t have exhausted our armed forces”
I argue that this was caused by Clinton’s combined force policy that stripped us of 2 front capability because he reasoned we’d never again need it.
“and we would not have reinvigorated extremism all over the region.”
You mean, if we hadn’t invaded Iraq in 2003, the trend over the last 50+ years of increasing extremism in the region wouldn’t have happened? Gotta love time paradoxes.
March 25th, 2007 at 9:20 pm
rita, to a certain extent some of what you say is true. But you don’t understand this enemy. They fled Afganistan- and went to the other Middle East nations for protection. While I don’t doubt Bin Laden’s whereabouts, I have to wonder if he is LONG DEAD in some cave in Afganistan…
You forget: THE WORLD thought Saddam had WOMD. The UN ratified over 19 resolutions over it. But no one really DID anything. So here we were, after 9-11, facing this new enemy. Who, according to many, was in bed with Saddam. Intelligence was wrong. People always seem to blame Bush for this…when we used British, French and Russian intelligence. As well as our own.
AQ isn’t located in one little country. AQ isn’t just an army of terrorists in one stretch of land. They were in Iraq. They’re in Iran right now. They’re here in the US. Praying to Allah that people like you keep on doing what you’re doing…swallowing the liberal Kool Aid. You’re falling right into their trap. 50 plus years of terrorism in the Middle east has little to do with Bush…and it’s more than 50 yrs…it’s been hundreds of years.
The War on Terrorism isn’t going to be easy. I fear it’s going to end to, because so many people, like you rita, refuse to call the enemy for what they are and instead you attack Bush. You’re wrong, I believe. Liberals have always been on the wrong side of history. This time though it might cost us our country.
March 26th, 2007 at 9:16 am
http://www.cagw.org/site/PageServer?pagename=reports_porkbarrelreport
The graphs speak for themselves.
March 26th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
Un-effing-believable Tomslick. WTF. I feel an urge to write a REAL nasty now. To elected officials.
March 26th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
Raven, WTF pretty much sums it well.
I guess we are supposed to shake our heads and say – that is politics as usual and accept it.
They are rotten to the core on both sides of aisle. What I find laughable is that Bush finds all this pork unacceptable (now) and then acts like he didn’t know of all the pork that he signed off on already. In MHO, this is a major factor why the Reps lost their respect and credibility and ultimately the last election.
Are we so sad that dems or reps is the only major choice we have?