Monday, November 29, 2004

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE GOP'S $388 BILLION SPENDING BILL

What happened to the Republicans and their desire to trim the annual deficit, which hit a record $413 billion this year? Don't red staters start foaming at the thought of big government and promiscuous spending? And what about Bush's vow, during the election campaign, to halve the annual deficit by 2009? Isn't this man supposed to be overflowing with "resolve?" Well, where did it go?

Money quote:
In earmarking money, Congress left little to chance - or to the judgment of officials in the executive branch of the government. It set forth long lists of specific projects to be financed with federal money. One list itemizes 1,032 economic and community development projects. Some of the grants are relatively small: $20,000 for a jail in Winston County, Ala., and $25,000 for a park in Chambersburg, Pa.
Other parts of the bill set aside:

$15,000 for cameras to be installed in police cars in Berryville, Va., and a similar amount for the Police Department of West Buechel, Ky.

$1 million for the Missouri Pork Producers Federation, to see if hog waste can be used as a source of energy.

$1 million for seafood marketing efforts in Alaska.

$269,000 for harvesting seafood in Mississippi.

$200,000 for a new seafood plant on the coast of Oregon.

$4 million for "shrimp aquaculture" in seven states.

$443,000 for research to develop "baby food containing salmon,"

$236,000 for blueberry research in Maine.

$133,000 for maple research in Vermont.

$300,000 to save the Pennsylvania home of the first speaker of the House, Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg.

$1.5 million to establish an archive for the papers of Representative Richard A. Gephardt.

$1 million for the B.B. King Museum in Indianola, Miss

$4 million for stainless steel toilets at Washington's Navy Yard

$1 million for dealing with brown tree snakes in Guam

$335,000 to protect North Dakota sunflowers from birds.

$60 million for a new courthouse in Las Cruces, N.M.

$225,000 to study catfish genomes at Alabama's Auburn University.

$2 million to buy Bush a yacht


[Sources: Times, USA TODAY, Suntimes]

1 comment:

Reb Yudel said...

Cute. But as a religious American, I need to protest the moral obtuseness with which the Mainstream Media covered this issue.

Clearly, there's a big moral difference between promoting "shrimp aquaculture" and developing "baby food containing salmon."

It's a tragic day when our elected leaders provide 10 times the support for the former, a clear abomination to the Lord, and the latter.... which hopefully can raise up a generation of lox lovers....

I would like to know the ingredients in these parve-sounding appropriations:
* $1 million for seafood marketing efforts in Alaska.

* $269,000 for harvesting seafood in Mississippi.

* $200,000 for a new seafood plant on the coast of Oregon.