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    Senior Member AirborneSapper7's Avatar
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    Mitch McConnell Accused of Sneaking in $2 Billion ‘Kentucky Kickback’ in Budget, Debt

    Mitch McConnell Accused of Sneaking in $2 Billion ‘Kentucky Kickback’ in Budget, Debt Limit Deal – So Is It True?

    Oct. 16, 2013 7:22pm
    Jason Howerton

    Related: Government Shutdown

    Included in the McConnell-Reid bill that ends the government shutdown, funds Obamacare and lifts the debt ceiling, is apparently a roughly $2 billion increase in the authorization for the Olmsted Lock and Dam project in Kentucky, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s home state.

    However, there appears to be much more to the story.

    The alleged earmark package is being referred to as the “Kentucky Kickback” by the Senate Conservatives Fund as McConnell’s political opponents claim the dollars helped seal his support for the final McConnell-Reid bill. A spokesman for McConnell has flatly denied the claim.



    WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 16: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) (C) arrives at his office on October 16, 2013 in Washington, DC. Credit: Getty Images

    “The McConnell-Reid bill not only funds Obamacare and suspends the debt limit, it ALSO includes a provision in Section 123 that increases the authorization for the Olmsted Lock in Kentucky from $775 million to nearly $3 billion,” the Senate Conservatives Fund notes.

    Here’s exactly what the aforementioned section of the bill states:
    SEC. 123. Section 3(a)(6) of Public Law 100–676 is amended by striking both occurrences of ‘‘$775,000,000’’ and inserting in lieu thereof, ‘‘$2,918,000,000’’.
    “And when you dig down into that section, you find a lock and dam project on the Ohio River, part in Illinois and part in Kentucky,” KRMG correctly points out.

    A spokesman for McConnell told KRMG that “it’s not our project,” directing the radio station to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Senate Appropriations subcommittee, which handles water projects.

    “It did not come from here,” the McConnell spokesman claimed.

    It soon came to light that it was Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) who officially requested the provision be added.

    In a statement to BuzzFeed, Alexander explained that the provision was necessary to prevent $160 million in contracts from being cancelled by the Army Corps of Engineers.

    “According to the Army Corps of Engineers, 160 million taxpayer dollars will be wasted because of canceled contracts if this language is not included. Sen. [Diane] Feinstein and I, as chairman and ranking member of the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, requested this provision. It has already been approved this year by the House and Senate,” he said.

    BuzzFeed reports:

    Although the language was inserted by Feinstein and Alexander, whose home state of Tennessee would also benefit from the project, McConnell has been its historical champion. In fact, the Kentucky lawmaker secured hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarks for the Olmsted project before lawmakers ended the practice several years ago.
    Further, as the Washington Post reports, the funding was also requested by President Barack Obama and, “according to congressional sources from both parties, wasn’t a McConnell project.”

    “McConnell may try to blame someone else for this, but he wrote the bill and it’s not the first time he has sought funds for this project. He also requested $100 million for it in 2010,” the Senate Conservative Fund claims. “This is what’s wrong with Washington and it’s what’s wrong with Mitch McConnell.”

    The Senate Conservatives Fund, a political action committee founded by Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint, has not been friendly with McConnell and is known to put pressure on Republican senators and representatives in the effort to defund Obamacare (including McConnell).

    McConnell has also recently denied accusations made by an anonymous source that he called anyone who worked with the Senate Conservatives Fund or FreedomWorks the equivalent of a traitor to the GOP.

    Read a copy of the actual bill below (via TheDC):

    McConnell-Reid Legislation


    As it turns out, the Olmsted Locks and Dam project is overdue and way over budget. From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
    A project that should have been completed years ago has quadrupled in cost because of management failures for which the Corps of Engineers has yet to be held accountable.

    And the price tag keeps rising.

    In 1988, Congress authorized spending $775 million to replace two 1920s-era Ohio River dams 17 miles from the Mississippi River, at the busiest inland shipping hub in America.

    A quarter-century later, the projected cost has ballooned to $3.1 billion.

    Moreover, the Olmsted project is barely half done. The latest completion dates: 2020 for the dam and 2024 for the entire project.
    This story has been updated.

    http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013...bt-limit-deal/

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    Senior Member AirborneSapper7's Avatar
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    IT’S OFFICIAL: GOP Is Now Division Of Democrat Party, Boehner To Enjoin Pelosi For Help In Defeating Republicans

    Posted on Wednesday, October 16th, 2013 at 8:30 pm.
    by: Benjamin Franklin


    via Pat Dollard

    Excerpted from National Journal: Speaker John Boehner is considering letting the House take the initial vote Wednesday on a Senate-prepared bill to lift the debt ceiling and restart funding for the shuttered federal government–apparently even if House conservatives object.

    If they do object, it would mean Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and her House Democrats could become critical to its passage.

    “Boehner will need Pelosi votes,” said one senior Democratic aide, familiar with what he described as the cross-party negotiations that have been occurring Wednesday morning.

    “Not sure she’ll give them, but I imagine she will.”

    Boehner’s office had no comment. But a senior House GOP leadership aide confirmed the talk, saying the bill could go to the House rules committee in the next few hours.

    The Democratic senior aide said House Democratic leaders already have been meeting Wednesday morning to discuss what to do.

    Such a move by Boehner, if he decides to make it, would come as the administration’s Thursday deadline for hiking the nation’s $16.7 trillion borrowing cap is less than 24 hours away.

    According to the aide, Boehner and the House would act first on Wednesday on a bill put together overnight in the Senate, will extend the debt limit until Feb. 7, and include a continuing resolution until Jan. 15, according to a source familiar with the negotiations.

    Keep reading



    http://www.conservativeinfidel.com/u...g-republicans/
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    Senior Member AirborneSapper7's Avatar
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    McConnell-Reid Deal Includes $3 Billion Earmark for Kentucky Project

    By Phillip M. Bailey


    Credit File photo U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.,

    A proposal to end the government shutdown and avoid default orchestrated by Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and Democratic Leader Harry Reid includes a nearly $3 billion earmark for a Kentucky project.

    Language in a draft of the McConnell-Reid deal (see page 13, section 123) provided to WFPL News shows a provision that increases funding for the massive Olmsted Dam Lock in Paducah, Ky., from $775 million to nearly $2.9 billion.

    The dam is considered an important project for the state and region in regards to water traffic along the Ohio River.

    AsThe Courier-Journal's James Bruggers reported in 2011, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said they needed about $2.1 billion for the locks due to "stop and go funding."

    Asked about the additional funding in the proposal, McConnell spokesman Robert Steurer directed all questions to lawmakers who worked on the bill directly.

    "Senators (Diane) Feinstein and (Lamar) Alexander, the chair and ranking member of the energy and water subcommittee, worked on the issue and can help you," he says.

    Since 2009, McConnell has been an outspoken supporter of the project, and has been working on getting its funding for some time.

    Watch:



    Still, conservative critics of the proposal argue it is nothing more than a "kickback" for McConnell in an age where Tea Parties have eschewed earmarks.

    The Olmsted Dam sees nearly 90 billion tons of materials such as coal, petroleum and other goods move through that stretch of the Ohio River annually.

    UPDATE 7:30 p.m.:

    A statement from Sen. Alexander's office to BuzzFeed says the language was added to prevent funding from being canceled.
    "According to the Army Corps of Engineers, 160 million taxpayer dollars will be wasted because of canceled contracts if this language is not included. Sen. [Diane] Feinstein and I, as chairman and ranking member of the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, requested this provision. It has already been approved this year by the House and Senate."
    UPDATE 9:35 p.m.:
    The Senate passed the McConnell-Reid deal by a 81-18 vote and it now heads to the House.

    Among those who voted against the bill were Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who derided the legislation for overlooking the nation's debt.
    "Tonight, a deal was struck to re-open the government and avoid the debt ceiling deadline. That is a good thing," Paul said in a statement. "However, our country faces a problem bigger than any deadline: a $17 trillion debt. I am disappointed that Democrats would not compromise to avoid the looming debt debacle."

    Paul's office has not responded to our request for commenting regarding the provision for the Olmsted project.

    In a follow-up e-mail, McConnell's office told the radio station the GOP leader did not request Alexander put wording to raise the authorization for funding in the bill despite McConnell's support for earmark funding in the past.

    Tags:
    Mitch McConnell
    Olmsted Dam
    government shutdown
    Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell



    http://wfpl.org/post/mcconnell-reid-...ntucky-project
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