OMG! Did You See the Republican's List of "Wasteful Spending" in the Stimulus Package??

garybeck

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Tue Feb-03-09 03:55 PM
Original message

OMG! Did You See the Republican's List of "Wasteful Spending" in the Stimulus Package??

Edited on Tue Feb-03-09 04:01 PM by garybeck

I was really interested to see the list put out by the Republicans, of wasteful spending in the stimulus package. I was amazed. Is this the right list? I was expecting to see bridges to nowhere and lots of pork. But most (not all) of the things on this list appear to be really important projects we should be funding, and most would create jobs, one would think. If this is really their list of wasteful spending, I'm hoping the american people look past the headlines and the rhertoric and take a look at this list. If the Repubs think all these things are wasteful spending, it says a lot about who they are. A couple comments of my own in curly brackets. I got this list from the cnn story http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/02/gop.stimulus.worries/index.html

• $2 billion earmark to re-start FutureGen, a near-zero emissions coal power plant in Illinois that the Department of Energy defunded last year because it said the project was inefficient.

• A $246 million tax break for Hollywood movie producers to buy motion picture film.
{this one i agree seems unnecessary}

• $650 million for the digital television converter box coupon program.
{if they end the coupon program, this would affect low income people more}

• $88 million for the Coast Guard to design a new polar icebreaker (arctic ship).

• $448 million for constructing the Department of Homeland Security headquarters.

• $248 million for furniture at the new Homeland Security headquarters.

• $600 million to buy hybrid vehicles for federal employees.

• $400 million for the Centers for Disease Control to screen and prevent STD's.

• $1.4 billion for rural waste disposal programs.

• $125 million for the Washington sewer system.

• $150 million for Smithsonian museum facilities.

• $1 billion for the 2010 Census, which has a projected cost overrun of $3 billion.

• $75 million for "smoking cessation activities."
{wouldn't want to spend any money on that, would we?}

• $200 million for public computer centers at community colleges.
{education, smeducation}

• $75 million for salaries of employees at the FBI.

• $25 million for tribal alcohol and substance abuse reduction.

• $500 million for flood reduction projects on the Mississippi River.
{how could anyone say this is wasteful?}

• $10 million to inspect canals in urban areas.

• $6 billion to turn federal buildings into "green" buildings.

• $500 million for state and local fire stations.

• $650 million for wildland fire management on forest service lands.

• $1.2 billion for "youth activities," including youth summer job programs.

• $88 million for renovating the headquarters of the Public Health Service.

• $412 million for CDC buildings and property.
{doesn't this protect our health}

• $500 million for building and repairing National Institutes of Health facilities in Bethesda, Maryland.

• $160 million for "paid volunteers" at the Corporation for National and Community Service.

• $5.5 million for "energy efficiency initiatives" at the Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration.

• $850 million for Amtrak.

• $100 million for reducing the hazard of lead-based paint.
{how could anyone say this is wasteful?}

• $75 million to construct a "security training" facility for State Department Security officers when they can be trained at existing facilities of other agencies.

• $110 million to the Farm Service Agency to upgrade computer systems.

• $200 million in funding for the lease of alternative energy vehicles for use on military installations.