If Congress can get away with this, then we deserve what we get folks. If the 2005 highway bill with 6,000 earmarks was enough to wake us up and toss the bums out and shift power to the opposite political party, then this, too, cannot be forgotten and means the house cleaning in Congress ain’t over! No longer can our politicians claim we’re out of money for things like HIGHWAYS!
Read about it here or read below.
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Peanut storage in Georgia is among the pork projects loaded by Congress.
Congress loads up $20 billion in pork
By Charles Hurt
The Examiner
Mar 14, 2007
WASHINGTON – Congress has loaded up President Bush’s request for “emergency” spending on the Iraq war with more than $20 billion in “pork” for members’ districts.
Money for peanut storage in Georgia, spinach growers in California, menhaden in the Atlantic Ocean and even more office space for the lawmakers themselves is included in what has ballooned into a $124 billion war bill.
“This emergency supplemental bill has more ornaments hanging over our many branches of government than the White House Christmas tree,” Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., said.
Originally, Bush asked for $105 billion in emergency funding. Democratic leaders say they want to grant the request to continue funding the war despite their desire to end it.
“We have provided all of the money the president requested- and more,” boasted House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer.
That includes $74 million for peanut storage, $25 million for spinach growers and $100 million for citrus growers.
It also includes $16 million to convert the old Food and Drug Administration building in southwest D.C. into more office space for the Capitol. That “emergency” expenditure comes at a time when taxpayers already shell out $600 million “more than double the original estimate” for a mammoth expansion of the Capitol, which includes 160,000 feet of new office space.