Billions and Billions and Billions... Oh My!

Posted by Bobby Eberle
February 16, 2009 at 7:25 am

The massive government interference and spending bill known as the stimulus package has passed Congress and awaits President Obama's signature. Throughout the legislative process, it was disheartening to see just how much was spent on earmarks. Remember when the Democrats took control of the House, and Nancy Pelosi vowed to reform earmarks?

Now, during this debate, the arrogance of the left-wing Washington elite was taken to a new level. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) actually spoke before Congress and said that the American people don't care about wasteful earmarks. President Obama stood before the American people at his primetime press conference and said the bill has NO pork at all. Come on! Let's take a look at how wrong he really is...

First, we have Chuck Schumer... During a speech on the Senate floor, Schumer said, "And let me say this -- to all of the chattering class that so much focuses on those little, tiny, yes porky amendments -- the American people really don't care."

see the video at the link http://www.gopusa.com/theloft/?p=898

Are you kidding me? Of course we care. The problem is that Obama's rhetoric of hope and change was replaced by gloom and doom. They were told that if the stimulus bill did not pass, the world would end. It was a great pitch line and the perfect opportunity to play off the fears of Americans and load the bill with massive wasteful spending.

Next, we have the man himself... President Obama. During his primetime press conference, he said:

It also contains an unprecedented level of transparency and accountability so that every American will be able to go online and see where and how we're spending every dime. What it does not contain, however, is a single pet project, not a single earmark, and it has been stripped of the projects members of both parties found most objectionable.

Give me a break. Not one single earmark? If he says so, it must be true, right?

Thankfully, there are several organizations that are doing a great job in revealing what the stimulus bill is all about. The National Taxpayers Union has posted an extensive list on the billions of dollars wasted on non-stimulative spending.

How about half a billion dollars for "forest health and wildfire prevention"... or another half a billion dollars for "NIH facilities in Bethesda, MD"... or another half a billion dollars for "SSA National Computer Center in MD." The list goes on and on and on.

As noted on its web site, StimulusWatch.org "was built to help the new administration keep its pledge and to hold public officials to account." The organization does this by "allowing you, citizens around the country with local knowledge about the proposed projects in your city, to find, discuss and rate those projects."

In the many pages of the web site, visitors can find projects in their states and track how the money is being spent.

Billions and billions and billions of dollars to do something the American economy can do on its own. The last time we had this much government interference and misguided spending to "fix" the American economy, it took a world war to get us out of it.

http://www.gopusa.com/theloft/?p=898