Wednesday, February 11, 2009

A Lot of Little Oinkers


I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.

Thomas Jefferson


The 'stimulus' package is on the verge of passing after going through the House and the Senate. In the House not one Republican voted for the package but several Democrats crossed the aisle and voted 'No'. The AP called this vote strictly partisan. In the Senate every Democrat voted 'Yes' on the package while three Republican Senators (the two goofballs from Maine and Arlen 'Benedict' Specter from PA) crossed the aisle and voted 'Yes'. Of course the AP called this vote a sign of Barack Obama's ability to build a bipartisan coalition and unite people.

Yet the Senate is about to pull a fast one on the American people.

When the Senate got the bill for the package it was over $800 billion, then three wannabe Republicans (Specter, Collins, Snow) said if you cut this amount then we will vote for the package. That gave the Dems 60+ votes, enough to make the bill filibuster proof - the bill would pass no matter what the absolutely inept Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnel said or did. (he told Republicans in the Senate that they should let this go to vote without a fight, it might make the GOP look bad). You are a tool, Mitch McConnell, go back to Kentucky and take Orrin Hatch with you please.

If a bill is changed from when it leaves the House to when it is passed in the Senate, it goes to conference between the two bodies and they work together to redo the differences so that another vote can be taken in both chambers. Well, the Democrats knew that they could add most of the things they cut back into the bill during conference. That is why Nancy Pelosi, the House Majority Leader, wasn't worried about the cuts. A secret meeting was held last night between Democrat leaders (sans Republicans) to hammer out more spending.

It will be back over $800 billion when it is presented to both houses of Congress in the next couple of days. In 3 years, with interest, it will total over $1.1 trillion in spending. Here is a list of wasteful spending being included in the 'stimulus' package, thanks to the office of Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK).

Every Democratic Senator and House member is sticking their pet project in this bill, making it so big and unwieldy that we don't know exactly what we are getting. A pork project is defined as allocating specific funds that will help a Senator or House member pay for a project in their district/state that should never be funded by the federal government.

There is a lot of pork going around. Please remember this when you go to the polls in two years.

2 comments:

  1. humm that is funny I dont see any Public Schools on that list, humm gosh maybe they over looked it!

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  2. It will be so lovely in 10 years when President Whomever brings us out of the
    Greater Depression. I a looking forward to the 15 mile round trip in the snow- to get 5 potatoes every single day. I bet I trim right up!
    Er...

    ReplyDelete