Thursday, December 16, 2010

This-n-That Thursday

Wanna get your dander up today? Check out these earmarks your elected officials are trying to get through...and remember, many of these people don't want to extend unemployment benefits...

● $40 million for a National Bio and Agro-defense facility in Kansas, requested by Sen. Sam Brownback (R., Kansas).

● $8 million for expanding Anchorage’s port, requested by Alaska Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R) (who campaigned on her ability to bring Alaska earmarks) and Mark Begich (D).

● $165,000 for maple research in Vermont, to further delve into the quality and food safety of syrup and to consider how current production methods affect tree health, requested by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D., Vermont).

● $1 million for arthropod damage control, requested by Sen. Harry Reid (D., Nev.).

● $21 million for Hawaii Federal Health Care system, requested by Appropriations committee chair Sen. Daniel Inouye (D., Hawaii.)

● $2.5 million to improve pedestrian and bicycling paths in Illinois, requested by Sen. Dick Durbin (D., Ill.)

● $307,000 for research on small fruits, requested by Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D., Oregon), Norm Dicks (D., Wash.), Rick Larsen (D., Wash.), Kurt Schrader (D., Oregon), and David Wu (D., Oregon) and Sens. Maria Cantwell (D., Wash.), Mike Crapo (R., Idaho), Jeff Merkley (D., Oregon), Patty Murray (D., Wash.), James Risch (R., Idaho), and Ron Wyden (D., Oregon).

● $350,000 for Cool Season Legume Research, which would fund studies on what diseases harm and what improvements could help crops such as lentils and beans, requested by Sens. Maria Cantwell (D., Wash.) Kent Conrad (D., N.D.), Bryon Dorgan (D., N.D.) and Patty Murray (D., Wash.) and Reps. Norm Dicks (D., Wash.) and Earl Pomeroy (D., N.D.).

● $15 million to reduce emission-caused pollution in California, requested by Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) and Barbara Boxer (D., Calif) and Democratic Reps. Dennis Cardoza, Jim Costa, and Jay McNerney of California.

● $1 million for AFL-CIO training programs, requested by Sen. Tom Harkin (D., Iowa).

These are but 10 of the 6,600 earmarks in the new spending bill. They total $8 billion.

Merry Christmas.

Source


14 comments:

Keetha said...

Don't get me started!

Moms Musings said...

Only three Republicans in the bunch. I wonder how many of the others lost their bid for re-election and are looking forward to the next so they can tell their constituents how much they "gave" them.

Nurse Nancy said...

Thanks for the happy news....I am sure that the ugliness only gets worse....as does the national debt!

Unknown said...

Love the one about pedesterians and bikes...like that hasn't been researched enough...what since the beginning of time and the invention of the wheel?

Your babies will get home just fine today. Sending prayers for safe travels.

abb said...

Burns me up.

Diane said...

Some of it I could maybe see... like does the port in Anchorage really need improvement or possibly reducing emissions for the long term health of the planet. But the bike paths? And I'm a bike rider! And Hawaii's healthcare? My state just cut the entire basic health plan for the poor. Fruit research? We already know how to grow apples here. And grapes.
Ugh.

Flea said...

GAH! Not touching this with a ten foot pole.

Laura~peach~ said...

G.A.H. excuse me while i go PUKE

I Am Woody said...

Exactly what my Dad was on his soapbox about this morning when I called him. Government! Sheesh!!

Daryl said...

Jon Stewart did a fabulous piece on outing the earmarkers ... clearly its only ok to add earmarks if you are a Republican ..

Grandmother Mary said...

Let's cut that $8 billion from the ginormous defense budget and do all of that potentially good stuff in a revenue neutral way.

Debbie said...

Just heard one on the news. $10M to honor a Senator and I can't even remember his name. Their millions sound like my hundreds. I'm sick.

Frances Townsend had on a sleeveless turtleneck sweater (CNN) tonight and that aggravated me. It's freezing. Was she showing off her trim upper arms? Put a jacket on for goodness sake. You look Gah!

Karen Deborah said...

B/P going up again. You know if they had to earn the money they wouldn't be so stupid with it. How about if they stop spending so dad gum much like the rest of us are doing? IDIOTS! Fire them all.

Anonymous said...

J'ai appris des choses interessantes grace a vous, et vous m'avez aide a resoudre un probleme, merci.

- Daniel