Bush Tries to Raid Salmon Disaster Funds

[babsbunny]

http://www.truthout.org/article/bush-tries-raid-salmon-disaster-funds




Sunday 15 June 2008

by: Dan Bacher, t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Professional salmon fisherman Rusty Boro steers his boat in the dock in Half Moon Bay, California. The Bush administration is attempting to take back almost half the money it originally alloted to California and Oregon fisherman in this year's farm bill.

West Coast representatives and leaders of fishing groups are outraged over an attempt by the White House to yank $70 million in disaster funding from commercial and recreational fishermen in order to pay for the 2010 US Census.

The Bush administration's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on Monday, June 9, sent a proposal to Congress to amend the president's budget and take back $70 million of the $180 million West Coast representatives had put into the farm bill for disaster assistance for fishermen devastated by fishing closures off California and Oregon and in Central Valley rivers.

West Coast Democrats reacted to the proposal by sending an angry letter to President Bush. They called "unconscionable" his proposal to deny the disaster funding to fishermen and use it to pay for a failed contract with the Harris Corporation. Harris, assigned to do the 2010 Census, was forced due to serious mismanagement to abandon its plans for using handheld computers to conduct the census and will have to conduct a costly paper census.

[TomInTib]

1. Effing outrageous.

Take it from fucking Halliburton for non-compliance under the terms of contract.

[SalmonChantedEvening]

2. 70 million? Cmon Dubya, Exxon/Mobil could sneeze that much

And never miss it. You could always ask them to help out, being they're such patriots n all. We all know how good you are at jawboning people. Them Saudis was just quakin' when you came to visit.

:sarcasm:

[bluesmail]

3. It really is a backwards world.

It's all twisted.

[Deja Q]

4. Sounds fishy.

But, as always, we're hooked on the articles.

[bluesmail]

5. ...the bigger the corporation, let's use the Fed Gov't, for

arguments sake, the greedier they are inherently. Not a recent epiphany. A penny lost here or there is 'we'll pass it on to the taxpayers' a sacrosanct creed.:evilgrin: unintentional rhyme HA!

[formercia]

6. Dick Cheney was resposible for the fish kill

If Junior needs money, take it out of his hide.

[OneBlueSky]

7. why should salmon have more right than Social Security recipients? . . .

I mean, they've raided the Social Security Trust Fund for years . . . if it's good enough for old folks, it's good enough for fish . . .:silly: