Thursday, May 18, 2006

Pork Spending 5-18-2006

18, May 2006 Pork Spending

It seems nothing will stop the profligate spending habits of our lawmakers. Unaffected by the crippling costs of the Pentagon war machine, Katrina, and a $10 trillion debt ceiling, pork spending goes on unabated. $92.2 billion was slipped under the radar of public scrutiny as an “emergency” supplemental, principally for the Iraq war and Katrina.   This pot of money includes a fuzzy line item of $782 million for military research and development, $782 million of emergency funding to relocate railroad operations in New Orleans to make room for casinos and tourist facilities. Another staggering $594 million emergency Katrina funding was encumbered for highway projects, $4 billion for farm disasters - all unrelated to Katrina. 

Even more egregious emergency budget items - $150,000 for the Bronx Council of the Arts, $1.8 million to boost interest in art in West Virginia, and $500,000 for the Montana World Trade Center. A recent poll revealed approval of Congress plummeted to 22%. Who are these mysterious 22%? What further actions - beside waging unnecessary wars, torture, illegal wiretapping, trashing the Constitution, running up record deficits - can Congress and the president take to lose support of this stubborn minority?

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