That’s A LOT of Bacon!

Just two weeks before Inauguration Day, then President-elect Barack
Obama vowed he would bar lawmakers’ pet projects, fight wasteful
government spending, reject earmarks, and cut the pork from Washington’s
diet and the economic stimulus package. At the time Obama made this
assertion, congressional leaders estimated the price tag for the
economy’s bailout to be around $775 billion. Two weeks into his
Presidency however, the figure has increased dramatically to around $825
billion– and its laden with pork!

Some of the provisions Democrats have included in the bill supposedly to
fix our nation’s ailing economy include:
- $276 million to fix the computer systems at the State Department
- $1.8 billion to fix dilapidated National Forest Service facilities
- $50 million to the National Endowment for the Arts to help starving
artists
- $87 billion to Medicaid, fine, but…$100s of millions would go to
contraceptives…that much for condoms?
- $500 million for bomb detectors at airports
- $2.5 billion to update low-cost housing
- $400 million for NASA to investigate global warming
- $426 million for construction at the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention
- $800 million to clean up Superfund sites
- $6.7 billion to make Federal buildings more ‘green’
GOP lawmakers are currently fighting the President’s proposal until his
party reaches a middle ground which includes less pork and more tax
cuts. Even former Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, who
vowed he would work with President Obama, said he would not support the
bill as it stands now. And what right-minded person would? While it can
be argued some of these programs have merit, why are they included in a
bill proposed to create new jobs and stimulate the economy?

UPDATE 01/29/09: The House passed the largest spending bill in American
history 244-188 with no Republican support and eight Democrats voting
against. The $819 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is now
on to the Senate for a vote. The 41 Senate Republicans are just enough
for the minimum requirement to filibuster the bill.

Use the links on the left to write your U.S. Senator and tell them to
“Trim the Fat!”