Conservatives oppose pet projects ( but some Republican's back them)

[maddezmom]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Senate conservatives and the Bush administration are taking aim at billions of dollars of non-war spending added to President Bush's $100 billion funding request for Afghanistan and Iraq.

~snip~

But there's a problem facing conservatives striving to knock out what the White House calls "excessive and extraneous" spending: Many Republicans support the extras.

~snip~


Coburn has taken on spending add-ons before, only to run into a coalition of Democrats and old-school Republicans that invariable defeat his attempts.

What typically happens in such "emergency" spending bills is that people who have obtained items dear to their states vote as a pack to fend off attacks on pet provisions.

The defense funding bill, which arrived on the Senate floor Monday, contains about $20 billion in spending unrelated to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
(some of the list is at the link)



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070327/ap_on_go_co/congress_pet_projects_1

[w4rma]

1. Only $20 billion? Pshaw, they should be milking this bill for more. That's chicken feed compared to

what Republicans have given to Haliburton in profits alone.

[rodeodance]

2. umm.. they do not question WAR $$ done a black HOLE!

[Freddie Stubbs]

3. Senate war bill features $20B in pork

Source: Examiner.com

Mar 27, 2007 9:57 AM (1 hr 30 mins ago)
by Charles Hurt, The Examiner

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Like their counterparts in the House, the Senate has larded its version of an “emergency” war spending bill with nearly $20 billion in pork-barrel outlays, including $100 million for the two major political parties’ 2008 presidential conventions.


The $121 billion bill includes $102 billion for the troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as $14 billion for Hurricane Katrina aid and more than $4 billion for “emergency farm relief.”

“Congress will have to make the choice between booze and balloons or bullets and body armor,” John Hart, a spokesman for Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., told The Examiner on Monday. Coburn and a handful of other senators hope to shame their colleagues into stripping the pork out of the war spending bill.

The Senate bill is $18 billion more than President Bush requested for military operations. The House bill, which passed last week, exceeded the administration’s request by $21 billion and included money for spinach growers, peanut storage and citrus farmers.

Read more: http://www.examiner.com/a-640957~Senate__emergency__war_bill_has_almost__20_billion_in_domestic_spending_tacked_onto_it.html

[Monkeyman]

4. Missed One 3.5 Billion for Veterans Health Care

Bush and Company call that pork too

[IWantAChange]

5. all projects/relief for US citizens ignored by the last Repuke Congress aren't they??

I'm willing to bet there are no 'bridges to nowhere'

[Sammy Pepys]

6. They do not belong in a defense supplemental.

Legitimacy of these projects aside, funding should be restritced to their proper bills (Ag, Commerce, whatever).

[BayCityProgressive]

8. "including $100 million for the two major political parties’ 2008 presidential conventions."

are you kidding me?!? Let them pay for their own conventions! Jesus!

[Monkeyman]

7. Some of what they call pork in the Senate Bill

4.3 billion to ensure returning troops have health care
2 billion in port, mass transit and airport security
6.6 billion to help rebuild the Gulf coast and put people back to work

[Sammy Pepys]

9. Troop health/VA stuff is absolutely fine...

That's obviously a need related to the war in Iraq/GWOT.

The other stuff I'm iffy on personally, and thing like peanut storage and spinach is ridiculous....they belong in other funding bills, not a defense supplemental.

[Kingofalldems]

10. Thanks for your concern

Pork is in the eye of the beholder.