Latest Porkulus List in S.1 from Heritage (via #TCOT)

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

* $650 million for the digital television (DTV) converter box coupon program

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

* $448 million for constructing the Dept. of Homeland Security headquarters

* $248 million for furniture at the new Dept. of Homeland Security headquarters

* $600 million to buy hybrid vehicles for federal employees

* $400 million for the CDC to screen and prevent STD's

* $1.4 billion for a rural waste disposal programs

* $125 million for the Washington, D.C. sewer system

* $150 million for Smithsonian museum facilities

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

* $200 million for public computer centers at community colleges

* $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

* $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

* $150 million for Smithsonian museum facilities

* $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

* $500 million for building and repairing NIH facilities in Bethesda, MD

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

* $5.5 million for "energy efficiency initiatives" at the VA "National Cemetery Administration"

* $60 million for Arlington National Cemetery

* $850 million for Amtrak

* $100 million for reducing the hazard of lead-based paint

* $75M to construct a new "security training" facility for State

Dept 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.

* $275 million for "watershed and flood prevention operations"

* Unspecified assistance for "nonambulatory cattle"

"Stimulus" Stats...

Contact every Senator, the Governor (stories are out saying Republican Governors are pressuring Congress to vote yes so they'll get their share of the money). If you think the so-called "stimulus package" is good for America, read the following excerpts from an article in the Canadian Free Press (http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/8006):

Alan Reynolds at the Wall Street Journal also tells us the stimulus package doesn’t even target the groups hardest hit by unemployment.

The December unemployment rate was only 2.3% for government workers and 3.8% in education and health. Unemployment rates in manufacturing and construction, by contrast, were 8.3% and 15.2% respectively. Yet 39% of the $550 billion in the bill would go to state and local governments. Another 17.3% would go to health and education—sectors where relatively secure government jobs are also prevalent. If the intent of the plan is to alleviate unemployment, why spend over half of the money on sectors where unemployment is lowest?

Here's a list of some of the things included in the "stimulus" package:

Global Warming

$2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects Link
$400 million for global-warming research Link

Government Upgrades

$2.5 billion for the National Science Foundation Link
$2.0 billion for the National Park Service Link
$800 million for AMTRAK Link
$650 million for the U.S. Forest Service Link
$600 million for NASA Link
$276 million to the State Department to upgrade and modernize its information technology Link
$150 million for maintenance work at the Smithsonian Institution Link
$209 million for maintenance work for the Federal Agricultural Research Service Link
$44 million for repairs and improvements at the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the Department of Agriculture Link
$245 million to upgrade the information technology of the Farm Service Agency Link
The Coast Guard wants more than $572 million for “Acquisition, Construction, & Improvements” They claim these funds will create 1,235 new jobs. Crunch the numbers and this brings the cost of “creating” each job to a staggering $460,000+ Link
$200 million for Dep. of Defense to acquire alternative energy vehicles. Link
$600 million for new cars for the federal government Link
$200 million to re-sod the National Mall Link
$400 million for a new Social Security Administration computer system Link
$1.9 billion for the Energy Department for “basic research into the physical sciences Link

Schools

$66B on education, but they specifically exclude private K-12 schools from getting one dime of it. Link
$17 billion for Pell Grants Link
$13 billion in IDEA, Part B State grants to help pay for “the excess costs of providing special education and related services to children with disabilities. Link
$13 billion in Title I grants “to provide extra academic support to help raise the achievement of students at risk of educational failure or to help all students in high-poverty schools meet challenging State academic standards Link
$6 billion goes to college and universities Link
$3.5 billion for higher education facilities. Link
$2.1 billion is for Head Start Link
$1 billion for Technology Education Link
$250-million for an after-school snack program. Link

Social Programs

$87 billion is to be spent on Medicaid, a welfare program already costing roughly $400 billion per year Link
$83 billion for the earned income credit for people who don’t pay income tax Link
$36 billion for expanded unemployment benefits Link
$20 billion for increased food stamps, including lifting restrictions on how long welfare dependents can receive food stamp benefits. Link
$6 billion program to “weatherize modest-income homes Link
$5 billion is devoted to public housing Link
$3 billion for health care prevention and wellness programs, such as childhood immunizations and other state and local public health programs Link
$2 billion is to be spent on Child Care Development Block Grants, which provide day care. Link
$1.7 billion is to be spent to help the homeless Link
$1.1 billion for so-called federal comparative effectiveness research in regard to health-care services Link
$1 billion goes for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance program, to help low income families pay their heating bills Link
$500 million to speed the processing of applications for Social Security disability claims. Link
$200 million goes for senior nutrition programs, such as Meals on Wheels Link
$200 million for AmeriCorps, to help satisfy “increased demand for services for vulnerable populations to meet critical needs in communities across the U.S. Link
$120 million to finance part-time work for seniors in community service agencies. Link
$100 million to reduce lead-based paint hazards for children in low income housing Link

MISC

New Programs $136 billion of the bill is for unproven ideas—to start 32 new federal programs. Link
$79 billion is to go the states to maintain their runaway government spending, particularly for such spendthrift jurisdictions as California, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts Link
$5.2 billion for ACORN, the left-leaning nonprofit group under federal investigation for massive voter fraud. Link “Community organizers,” such as the left-wing lobbying group ACORN, would get their own new slush fund of up to $750-million. Link
$4.2 billion provided to the Neighborhood Stabilization Fund, which provides the funds to local governments to purchase and rehab vacant housing due to foreclosure Link
$2 billion for Superfund cleanup Link
$1.2 billion for summer jobs for youth Link
$650 million for digital TV coupons to help Americans upgrade to digital cable television Link
$335 million for sexually transmitted disease education and prevention programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Link
$50 million for the National Endowment of the Arts to help “the arts community throughout the United States.
$400 million for “habitat restoration projects” of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Link
$75 million for smoking cessation Link

Presidential Line-item veto?

Giving the release posted below a quick glance caused me to do a double-take. Giving the President line-item veto power is something that is talked about often enough, but rarely does anyone attempt to do anything about it in Congress.

It takes away some of their power for one thing. It also puts the President in play as they bargain and cajole.

All those extras that are attached to bills aren't done simply to sneak something through. They are bargaining chips.

Let's say the Democratic party wants a bill of some sort pushed through but they need 20 more votes. Whoever wants the bill goes to those opposed and those who are on the fence and starts working on them.

"What's it going to take to get you to vote yes on this bill?"
"Well, I'm thinking you need to change this little bit here and it might be easier to swallow."
"Darn, that's one that we've already discussed and we can't budge on that."
"Hmm, let's see. Did I tell you about that bridge I wanted for my constituents? The company that will build it made some huge donations to my campaign."

Yeah, that last bit about the donation to the campaign isn't something I'd expect any of them to verbalize... but we all believe that payback is part of it, don't we?

I'm sure there are many other things in play when it comes to all those "extras" that get tagged onto the end of the bills that slide through. I would imagine they might also be used as a reward for someone who's toeing the party line, or as a help for someone in a tight race needing to bring home some pork.

Give the President line-item veto power and he gets to play in the game, too. Plus, he looks good doing it, too, as he can say he's just saving the tax payers money.

As I've written in previous blogs, neither Party wants to take a chance that a President from the other Party would have line-item veto power. Thus, the bill proposed below really surprised me. My first thought was this might have a chance of sliding through as it's the END of the President's term and the Democrats are probably thinking they've got a good shot at taking the Presidency. It was proposed by a Republican, too!

Then I read the release through to the end. There's a line in there that seems to nullify the idea of a Presidential line-item veto. AFTER he uses his red pen, it then has to be affirmed by Congress. Can you see the cat fights coming? Can you see the extra time it will take to get a bill through? Can you see any real chance of it working any differently than it does now?

I'm going to have to think on this one more and watch to see what happens as it goes forward. I can see that this would give the President more yelling power. He'd be able to bring attention to some of the pork. He'd also be on the line when he DIDN'T call attention to certain additions.

I like a lot of what Isakson is proposing, it's broader than just line-item veto power for the President.

I'm going to read the following release again and maybe, if time permits, I'll go pull up a copy of the proposal in its entirety and see if I can make some sense of it!

Isakson Co-Sponsors Constitutional Amendment to Give President Line-Item Veto Power
1/24/08 U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., today announced that he is co-sponsoring a constitutional amendment that would allow the President to use the line-item veto to either eliminate or reduce appropriations in any bill passed by the Congress.

“We must take bold and immediate steps to end the reckless spending that is threatening the future of our nation,” Isakson said. “This amendment will give the President much-needed authority to remove items from appropriations bills that are considered wasteful on a national perspective.”

Isakson noted that governors in 43 states – including Georgia – have line-item veto authority.

Congress passed a line-item veto bill in 1996, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional. The 1996 bill allowed the president to cancel, but not reduce, spending items in appropriation bills. The legislation Isakson is co-sponsoring would give the President more flexibility by allowing him to cancel or reduce any appropriation passed by Congress.

“One of the problems we have in America with deficit spending is spending money on projects that by anybody's definition are unnecessary projects,” Isakson said. “We need to have politicians justifying what they just spent rather than promising what they will spend.”

Isakson said he is committed to trying to pass legislation to curb federal spending and to demand more accountability from programs that receive federal dollars. To that end, Isakson has co-sponsored several pieces of legislation in addition to the line-item veto:

· The Stop Over-Spending (“S.O.S.”) Act would create a line-item veto mechanism for the President to use to eliminate wasteful spending and require Congressional affirmation for any deletions proposed by the President. It would implement procedures to automatically slow the rate of growth for mandatory programs if Congress fails to meet deficit reduction targets and reinstate statutory caps on discretionary spending. In addition, the S.O.S. Act would create two new bi-partisan commissions. The first would study the accountability and efficiency of government programs. The second commission would examine and provide solutions to the impending entitlement crisis.

· The Commission on Congressional Budgetary Accountability and Review of Federal Agencies Act would establish a bipartisan commission to review federal agencies and programs in an effort to eliminate federal spending on programs that are duplicative, wasteful, inefficient or outdated.