Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Benjamin Franklin

Democrats Defend Their Pork Packaging

By: Pam On: Mar/25/07 - 16 Comments

“With our vote this week, we’re helping our troops, protecting our veterans, and fighting to end the waste, fraud and abuse,” said Hodes, delivering the Democrats’ weekly radio address.

Here is a reminder of the waste in that bill. 

Michelle Malkin has tons of great info!

Hot Air is a must read!

Rep. Mike Pence quips:

“Here are some examples of what the Democrats consider ‘urgent’ needs that require ‘prompt action: ‘– $25 million for payments to spinach producers
– $120 million to the shrimp industry
– $74 million for peanut storage
– $5 million for shellfish, oyster and clam producers

“Spinach, shrimp, peanuts and shellfish? That’s not a war funding bill, that’s the salad bar at Denny’s.”

Below is a list of the most egregious and irrelevant special-interest goodies in the Senate supplemental:

$1.5 billion to the Army Corps of Engineers for recovery along the coast, including funding for Hawaii for an April 2006 flood;$850 million for Department of Homeland Security grants ($625M for rail/transit grants, $190M for port security grants, and $35M for urban area security grants);

$660 million for the procurement of an explosives detection system for the Transportation Security Administration;

$640 million for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program;

$425 million for education grants for rural areas;

$388.9 million for a backlog of Department of Transportation projects;

$165.9 million (including $60.4 million for salmon fisheries in the Klamath Basin region) for fisheries disaster relief;

$75 million for salaries and expenses for the Farm Service Agency;

$48 million in disaster construction money for NASA;

$25 million for grants through the Safe and Drug Free Schools program;

$25 million for asbestos abatement at the Capitol Power Plant;

$24 million to sugar beet producers;

$22.8 million for geothermal research and development;

$20 million for reimbursements to Nevada for “insect damage;”

$12 million for Forest Service money requested by the president in the non-emergency FY2008 budget

$3.5 million for guided tours of the Capitol;

$3 million for sugar cane; and

Allows the transfer of funds from holiday ornament sales in the Senate gift shop.

 

And in the House version:

$500 million for emergency wildfires suppression; the Forest Service currently has $831 million for this purpose;$400 million for rural schools;

$283 million for the Milk Income Loss Contract program;

$120 million to compensate for the effects of Hurricane Katrina on the shrimp and menhaden fishing industries;

$100 million for citrus assistance;

$74 million for peanut storage costs;

$60.4 million for salmon fisheries in the Klamath River region in California and Oregon;

$50 million for asbestos mitigation at the U.S. Capitol Plant;

$48 million in salaries and expenses for the Farm Service Agency;

$35 million for NASA risk mitigation projects in Gulf Coast;

$25 million for spinach growers;

$25 million for livestock;

$20 million for Emergency Conservation Program for farmland damaged by freezing temperatures;

$16 million for security upgrades to House of Representatives office buildings;

$10 million for the International Boundary and Water Commission for the Rio Grande Flood Control System Rehabilitation project;

$6.4 million for House of Representative’s Salaries and Expenses Account for business continuity and disaster recovery expenses;

$5 million for losses suffered by aquaculture businesses including breeding, rearing, or transporting live fish as a result of viral hemorrhagic septicemia;

$4 million for the Office of Women’s Health at the Food and Drug Administration; and

A minimum wage increase, which is the subject of separate legislation.

Brian Riedl and Baker Spring explain what’s wrong with the supplemental.

So much for all those pledges of fiscal responsibility and all the lip service about supporting the troops…

The troops in Iraq and Afghanistan–whom this legislation was originally designed for–have become merely a bargaining chip for a Congress that could never pass this additional $21 billion [in pork-barrel spending] on its own. Lawmakers are effectively telling President Bush that the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan cannot have their body armor unless Congress gets $16 million for additional office space in the House of Representatives.

Congress has larded President Bush’s defense supplemental bill with $21 billion in unrelated add-ons. This wish list, representing a who’s who of special interests, brings the total cost of the bill to $124 billion. The result may be the most expensive “emergency” legislation in American history.

Noel Sheppard has more:

It must have been very chilly in hell on Friday, for the editorial division of a major newspaper actually came down on Democrats.

I kid you not.

For those that missed it, the Washington Post ran an editorial Friday entitled “Retreat and Butter,” with a sub-headline “Are Democrats in the House voting for farm subsidies or withdrawal from Iraq?”

Having asked a tremendously valid question that most in the antiwar media have ignored as the Iraq debate heated up on Capitol Hill this week, the Post surprisingly and accurately answered its own question (better strap yourself in your seat):

Keep reading

Others blogging:

OINK…no other way to say it
House Bill Passes: Pork and Chess
Supporting the troops:in the spinach field.
An Act Of Political Theatre
Lampson Misrepresents CD22 Again
Military prepares for Democrat cuts
Military prepares for life under Nancy and the Gang
Democrats Vote for Defeat, in Willful Ignorance

Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Perri Nelson’s Website, The Virtuous Republic, Shadowscope, Stuck On Stupid, The Amboy Times, Pursuing Holiness, Pet’s Garden Blog, Rightlinx, third world county, Woman Honor Thyself, Pentimento, stikNstein… has no mercy, The Uncooperative Blogger, Pirate’s Cove, LaTogaStrappata®, The Pink Flamingo, Right Pundits, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, A Blog For All, The Random Yak, 123beta, Maggie’s Notebook, Adam’s Blog, basil’s blog, Cao’s Blog, Phastidio.net, The Bullwinkle Blog, Jo’s Cafe, Conservative Cat, Conservative Thoughts, LaTogaStrappata®, sissunchi, Allie Is Wired, Faultline USA, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, Walls of the City, The World According to Carl, CORSARI D’ITALIA, High Desert Wanderer, and Gone Hollywood, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Linkfest Haven, the Blogger's Oasis

Posted on: March 25, 2007 |

Posted in: National News

16 Responses to “Democrats Defend Their Pork Packaging”

  1. snowy egret
    March 25, 2007 - 09:46 PM on March 25th, 2007

    The demacrats should replace the donkey witha pig to repisent their porkers of the jackass party:razz:

  2. Woman Honor Thyself
    March 25, 2007 - 09:47 PM on March 25th, 2007

    Multicultural Nirvana..yea right.

    Maybe if they got a nice beating, or their sister died in an honor killing like their “sisters in solidarity”they’d have the full experience eh.

  3. Shadowscope
    March 25, 2007 - 10:24 PM on March 25th, 2007

    Mean Mr. Couch Had His Way With Me…

    …I’m embarrassed to say. I laid down about five this evening for a nap and the wife woke me up just in time for the girl’s bedtime. As groggy as I am when I wake up, luckily she put…

  4. Leaning Straight Up
    March 26, 2007 - 02:12 AM on March 26th, 2007

    Two interesting sets of Global Warming statistics.

    Statistics are notoriously fickle and unreliable.  Some comedian once quipped that 97.3% of all statistics are meaningless.  Indeed.

    So of course Global Warming is filled with statistics that both sides make their cases with.

    Consid…

  5. Planck's Constant
    March 26, 2007 - 02:32 AM on March 26th, 2007

    The Thinking Blogger Award – A Gift and a Curse

    I’ve been tagged with the Thinking Blogger Award by Debbie at Right Truth for “writing articles like no one else.”

  6. PCD
    March 26, 2007 - 05:18 AM on March 26th, 2007

    Again, the media is hand in hand dishonest about this story.

  7. The Florida Masochist
    March 26, 2007 - 05:45 AM on March 26th, 2007

    The Knucklehead of the Day award

    Today’s winner is Sergio Garcia.

  8. The Florida Masochist
    March 26, 2007 - 05:52 AM on March 26th, 2007

    Three bishops, one Duke, a President, 1 cardinal

    For a simple Tacloban girl, my wife certainly gets around.

  9. Islamist Website Instructs Mujahideen in Using Popular U.S. Web Forums to Foster Anti-War Sentiment among Americans
    March 26, 2007 - 06:48 AM on March 26th, 2007

    [...] Trackposted to The Virtuous Republic, Perri Nelson’s Website, third world county, basil’s blog, Shadowscope, DragonLady’s World, Blue Star Chronicles, Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Leaning Straight Up, High Desert Wanderer, Right Voices, and LaTogaStrappata®, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe. [...]

  10. The Amboy Times
    March 26, 2007 - 09:13 AM on March 26th, 2007

    Protesters Burn Effigy of US Soldier

    In Portland, OR 3/18, the anti-war crowd shows their true face. Chanting, bye, bye GI, in Iraq you’re gonna die!I’d question their patriotism…if they had any. Trackposted to The Virtuous Republic, Perri Nelson’s Website, A Blog For All, 123beta, M…

  11. Blog @ MoreWhat.com » Blog Archive » Oppose HR 1358
    March 26, 2007 - 03:12 PM on March 26th, 2007

    [...] Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, The Virtuous Republic, Perri Nelson’s Website, The Random Yak, Wake Up America, basil’s blog, Shadowscope, DragonLady’s World, Leaning Straight Up, The Amboy Times, The Bullwinkle Blog, Conservative Cat, Conservative Thoughts, LaTogaStrappata®, Pet’s Garden Blog, third world county, Allie Is Wired, stikNstein… has no mercy, The World According to Carl, Blue Star Chronicles, Overtaken by Events, Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Dumb Ox Daily News, High Desert Wanderer, Right Voices, and Gone Hollywood, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe. [...]

  12. Potbelly Stove
    March 26, 2007 - 07:01 PM on March 26th, 2007

    Encampment to Stop the War

    “Never has so much nonsense been inflicted on so many by so few”.

  13. 123beta
    March 27, 2007 - 11:48 AM on March 27th, 2007

    Another Open Trackback Weekend

    Wow, this week passed quickly! Time for another open trackback weekend, so have at it.

  14. Maggie M. Thornton
    April 21, 2007 - 10:11 PM on April 21st, 2007

    I just found your trackback from late March. My computer was down for a couple of weeks then but I did have an Open Trackback up for that time. I’m so sorry to miss this. I don’t know if its the trackbacks or I just failed to see them. I’ve added you, and again my apologies.

    There’s some great information in your post. You have packaged their pork well. I’ll be back to read more.

    Maggie
    Maggie’s Notebook

  15. Peejz
    April 22, 2007 - 07:39 AM on April 22nd, 2007

    Thank’s Maggie:smile:

  16. Robert
    April 22, 2007 - 11:17 AM on April 22nd, 2007

    “With our vote this week, we’re helping our troops, protecting our veterans, and fighting to end the waste, fraud and abuse,”said Hodes, delivering the Democrats’ weekly radio address.”

    Waste, fraud, and abuse…hmmm…saying that with a straight face all the while knowing they loaded the bill with pork. Not only liars, but big liars. Goebbels would have blushed at the audacity of these Democrite liars. Stalin would have been proud and probably would have hired them to be his official Ministry of Truth.

    Yet fools across America follow them, support them, vote for them…

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