Democrats Defend Their Pork Packaging

“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

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• House sets Surrender Date : The Crimson Blog
• The American Pundit » Blog Archive » Bush To Address House Bill- Wow. Shocker.™
• Bush To Pelosi: Suck Up & Bust : “7.62mm Justice” ™
• Mary Katharine Ham
• Riehl World View
• JammieWearingFool
• Ace of Spades HQ
• The Mighty Righty
• The LLama Butchers
• Wake up America-Question Their Humanity
• Blue Crab Boulevard » 218
• Iraq Vote | PAWaterCooler.com
• The Drive By Review
• House Democrats Pass Pork Bill with Timetable for Iraq War - Associated Content « Chaotic Ramblings
• Democrats: Defeat with a Side of “Blue Hogs” « Utah Rattler
• Texas Rainmaker
• Flopping Aces
• Point Five » Anyone Who Thinks Iraq Is Just Like Vietnam…
• The American Street » Blog Archive » Great Moments in Cirques de Crawford Humor
• The Corn Beltway Boys
• The Ignorance of Liberals Continues to Amaze Me « AmeriCAN-DO Attitude
• Maggie’s Farm
• House sets Surrender Date 
• House Dhimmicrats Surrender 
• Irony of the Day: House Bill to Surrender to Muslim Extremists Loaded with Pork 
• Selling Out The Troops 
• 2007.03.23 Iraq/Iran/Surrendercrat Roundup 
• Bush Hammers Party of Defeat 
• Vote Buying and Iraq

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