Omnibus Bill Includes Earmarks for Bugs, Pigs, & La Raza
Giant Omnibus Bill Includes $7.7 Billion in Earmarks for Bugs, Pigs, Parking – and La Raza
Monday, March 09, 2009
By Matt Cover
(CNSNews.com) – Termite research, walrus rehabilitation and pig manure are among the more than 8,570 of earmarks in the omnibus spending package currently before the Senate. Critics charge the bill is stuffed full of so many pork barrel projects -- $7.7 billion worth -- that President Barack Obama should veto it.
Perhaps the most controversial is a direct earmark for a Hispanic civil-rights group -- the National Council of La Raza -- worth $950,000. The group has been a lighting rod of controversy since it helped organize large protests in 2006 aimed at derailing efforts by conservative congressional Republicans to enforce U.S. immigration laws.
La Raza, which opposes raids and other aggressive law enforcement tactics, says that the federal money will go solely to its community action subsidiary, the Raza Development Fund, which it says provides loans for housing, education, and healthcare centers in Hispanic areas, according to information on the group’s website.
La Raza says that most of the fund’s money comes from private financial institutions, including Bank of America and Citibank.
The late Rep. Charles Norwood (R-Ga.) first criticized earmarks for La Raza in 2005 in the magazine Human Events saying federal money shouldn’t be used for groups who don’t support U.S. laws.
“We ought not to send taxpayer's money to people who absolutely advocate . . . using that money for the country not to follow the law of the land and not to secure our country's borders,â€
