Stimu – Lies
If this is a stimulus package, Popeye is a sissy.
Even though I have taken only a summary look at the line item details of the $787 billion bill which Congressional Democrats and the President are falsely avowing to be stimulus, I can honestly say that the Monumental Plaza in Mexico City, the world’s largest bullfighting arena, has never seen this much bullshit.
What this debt burden to our great grandchildren appears to be is a spending package with more earmarks than Dumbo’s pillow and American taxpayers should be outrages to the point of recalling these drunken sailors. This is far more an historic welfare and Democrat wish list spending bill than anything else.
To be sure, there are a few items that could be twisted to look like stimulus to the currently receding economy or aid to the unemployed and their families. It makes no sense to argue at this point anything that could reasonably be construed as stimulating the economy within the next 18 months. But these line items are but a few of the non-stimulating expenses or items that will not have any impact for at least 2 years. They are described here exactly as listed:
$24 Million – Repairs, security improvements & rental payments at the Dept. of Agriculture
$176 Million – Repairs & security improvements at the Agricultural Research Service
$130 Million – Guaranteed loans for rural community facility
$2.5 Billion – Broadband grants to rural communities
$25 Million – Oversight of department of Agriculture spending
$749 Million – Crop insurance reinstatement for farmers who failed to keep up with premiums
$1 Billion – Extra money for the Census
$350 Million – Salary and expenses for program to create national broadband inventory map
$6 Million – Oversight of Commerce Department spending
$230 Million – Extra money for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research
$600 Million – Extra money for NOAA satellite development and climate data sensors
$225 Million – Grants for violence against women prevention programs
$10 Million – Cost of administering extra grant money
$400 Million – NASA shuttle
$400 Million – NASA climate research
$150 Million – NASA aeronautics research
$2 Million – NASA spending oversight
$100 Million – NSF education activities
$2 Million – NSF spending oversight
$15 Million – Department of Defense spending oversight
$300 Million – Funding for Energy Star program
$84 Million – Funding for Recovery and Accountability Transparency Board
$7 Million – Oversight into General Services Administration spending
$20 Million – EPA spending oversight
$50 Million – Grants to fund art projects in non-profit sector
$500 Million – Training of nurses, doctors and dentists to practice in underserved communities
$9.5 Billion – National Institute of Health biomedical research
$1.1 Billion – To research comparing effectiveness of Medicare and Medicaid treatment
$1 Billion – Head Start program for preschoolers
$1.1 Billion – Early Head Start for low income infants
$50 Million – Grants to faith based and community organizations
$100 Million – Grants for elderly Meals on Wheels program
$2 Billion – Extra money for Office of National Coordination for Health Information Technology
$1 Billion – Community health programs and vaccinations
$13 Billion – Funding for Title 1 programs for low income children
$12 Billion – -Grants for special education programs
$17 Billion – Increase Pell grants to low income students
$60 Million – To increase college’s student aid funds
$200 Million – For colleges works study programs
$250 Million – Funding for states to create systems to track individual student data
$14 Million – Department of Education spending oversight
$160 Million – Extra money for AmeriCorps volunteer program
$40 Million – Extra Money for National Trust volunteer program
$90 Million – Passport and training funding for State Department
$290 Million – Creation of information management backup facility for State Department
$2.5 Billion – Energy efficiency retrogrades for low income families
This is only an incomplete short list of all the non-stimulus spending included in this near 1200 page spending bill. It’s not that all these items are not worthy; it’s that they are not stimulus for an economy on the brink of disaster. It is a congressional folly of unprecedented proportions.
You don’t paint the porch when the house is on fire.
