Pork - $20 billion worth
It seems that Nancy Pelosi's "strategic retreat" from Iraq will cost the US Taxpayer about $20 billion dollars more than President Bush's plan as she included such items as $100 million for the political party conventions, $13 million for “ewe replacement and retention, $3.5 million for the Capitol’s guided–tour program and much much more. It adds up to $20 billion.
Full story at
The Examiner:
Senate war bill features $20B in pork
Like their counterparts in the House, the Senate has larded its version of an “emergency” war spending bill with nearly $20 billion in pork-barrel outlays, including $100 million for the two major political parties’ 2008 presidential conventions.
The $121 billion bill includes $102 billion for the troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as $14 billion for Hurricane Katrina aid and more than $4 billion for “emergency farm relief.”
“Congress will have to make the choice between booze and balloons or bullets and body armor,” John Hart, a spokesman for Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., told The Examiner on Monday. Coburn and a handful of other senators hope to shame their colleagues into stripping the pork out of the war spending bill.
The Senate bill is $18 billion more than President Bush requested for military operations. The House bill, which passed last week, exceeded the administration’s request by $21 billion and included money for spinach growers, peanut storage and citrus farmers.
If the Senate bill goes to conference committee as written, the two chambers may find themselves fighting over the best cuts of pork.
And these people are supposed to be working for us?
Posted by DaveH at March 27, 2007 12:10 PM