The Iraq Spending Bill

Well, they passed the Iraq spending bill last week. That is really, old news you might think, but when you look at what the Democrats have included in the bill that is supposed to be funding the troops. Now Harry "the Body" Reid is threatening to override the veto that President Bush has promised in light of all the pork barrel spending that was included in the bill.

There are many people out there that bellyache about what the government does, but never pay attention and get involved. You get back whatever you deserve from the participation you give. That simple. Look at what the Democrats have included in a bill that is supposed to be for funding the troops. Of course, now the Democrats are threatening to withdraw funding from the military to try and force the President to back down. Read that again. They are threatening to withdraw funding for the troops. So, they support the troops? really? could have fooled me. Here is a sample of what the Democrats have included;

-- $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." It also sounds like a scene straight out of Forrest Gump where 'Bubba' talks about his plans to start shrimping after he gets out of the army;

Bubba Shrimp mp3

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 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.

Oh, and don't forget, they are trying to attach a withdrawl timetable too. These are the people that would sell out their own mother if it meant keeping themselves in power. And now the rumors of a huge tax increase, courtesy of who? your Liberal Left Democrats of course!