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RedState Action Alert: Dissect the Omnibus

Senate Democrats unveiled earlier this afternoon a 1,924-page omnibus spending bill to fund the government through fiscal year 2011. Aides to GOP legislators on Capitol Hill have already begun poring over the $1.1 trillion package, describing the proposal as “a total mess” to Fox News.

Republican lawmakers — including those in the lower chamber, like Speaker-elect John Boehner — are already vowing to help kill the appropriations measure, which freezes 2010′s $3.5 trillion budget for the following year without allowing for any spending cuts.

Offered in the waning days of the present congressional session, the bill designates $80 million in federal funds for the preservation of Pacific salmon and $14 million in clean water grants for Alaska’s native population. Of course, it doesn’t end there.

We’ve obtained a copy of the lame duck legislation so that RedState’s readers might begin dissecting the bill, posting the most egregious examples of pork barrel spending in the comments section. Embedded below the fold you will find the full nearly 2,000-page document.

UPDATE: According to a tally by Sen. John McCain’s office, the legislation includes 6,488 earmarks totaling nearly $8.3 billion. In a speech from the floor of the Senate, McCain blasted the bill, asking is his colleagues if they had been “stricken with amnesia” for appropriating such wild earmarks only weeks after a swift electoral rebuke for Democrats.

“Enough with the spending, enough of mortgaging our children and our grandchildren’s futures. The phenomenon of the Tea Party — taxed enough already — they were against the spending, the earmarking,” McCain, who is looking to force the bill be read in its entirety from the floor of the Senate, said. “What is going on here? Are we tone deaf? Are we stricken with amnesia?”

The senator’s aides — as well as the senator himself on Twitter — have begun circulating what they deem the most outrageous and wasteful spending measures in the bill. Some choice selects:

$247,000 – Virus free grapes in Washington State
$413,000 – Peanut research in Alabama
$125,000 – Fishery equipment for the Guam Fisherman’s Cooperative Association
$349,000 – Swine waste management in North Carolina
$277,000 – Potato pest management in wisconsin
$246,000 – Bovine tuberculosis treatment in Michigan and Minnesota
$522,000 – Cranberry and blueberry disease and breeding in New Jersey
$500,000 – Oyster safety in Florida
$400,000 – Solar parking canopies and plug-in electric stations in Kansas
$165,000 – Maple syrup research in Vermont

Continue posting those earmarks you’ve found in the comments section.

UPDATE II: By way of C-SPAN, video of McCain’s floor speech:

Cross-posted

COMMENTS

  • whitman

    It’s past time for the Senate GOP to tell Reid, et al that they will vote for the tax bill and the House CR, and filibuster everything else. The Dems lost the election, and it’s time for them to go home. In the words of Oliver Cromwell:

    “You have sat too long for any good you have been doing lately… Depart, I say; and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!”

    • cwilson

      In the name of God, go!

      However, to dumb it down to the preschool level that might possibly be understood by our present-day congresscritters, I quote the inimitable Dr. Seuss:

      Marvin K. Mooney will you please go now!
      The time has come.
      The time has come.
      The time is now.
      Just go.
      Go.
      Go!
      I don’t care how.
      You can go by foot.
      You can go by cow.
      Marvin K. Mooney will you please go now!
      You can go on skates.
      You can go on skis.
      You can go in a hat.
      But
      Please go.

      • http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law--Politics-Examiner Mike gamecock DeVine

        and I felt the same way in Bill v Newt shutdown battle, and that is

        A conservative President should look at this monstrosity of a CR and make an Oval Office speech challenging Americans to suffer for two weeks of a government shutdown to send the irresponsible libs a message.

        • http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law--Politics-Examiner Mike gamecock DeVine

          seriously, but they won’t…

          • http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law--Politics-Examiner Mike gamecock DeVine

            that the world will still be spinning on its axis in two weeks. Want to really see the markets rally and put people to work? Send the message that we are really serious about spending by showing the courage to endure two weeks of bad press. The markets would soar and the dollar would too.

            It would be tough to endure 2 days, much less two weeks, but I am convinced that a calm and cool leadership would end up changing the country because in two weeks and on going, folks would realize that the world did not end.

            It would be a huge conservative turning point.

          • Flagstaff

            Cut spending 99.55%
            Increase spending 0.45%

            What part of that do the Republicans not get?

          • merryj1

            The Republicans are mere observers.

          • IJB

            It’s just that, for some reason, Senate Republicans choose not to.

          • gamechange11two

            The new republican tactic for compliance with all things progressive has been on full display since the elections. After braying about how “we heard the voters in November”, party members put on a brave face for the cameras and explain that “this compromise is the best we can do”. This claim is quickly followed by a warning that the alternative would be unmitigated disaster. Meanwhile, the goody bag keeps giving and giving to the districts back home, and the fleecing continues unabated. Next stop: 11/6/12

    • Kyle-MI

      Last year it was Obamacare being pushed through at the last minute before Christmas. This year it is this mess and a lot of other bills that the public just does not support.

      I am getting to the point where I don’t even care if they pass the tax cut. Yes, it would cause a mess, but this is even a bigger mess.

      JUST GO HOME, ALREADY. Leave us alone. Let us enjoy our Christmas.

      • earlgrey
      • merryj1

        Because they don’t like us.

      • JadedByPolitics

        Christmas 2009 Obamacare, Christmas 2010 Omnibus, Christmas 2011 and 2012 you and your family by the Christmas tree with Congress AT HOME, so that you do not have to worry about the grinch stealing your money :)

        • avgjo

          the BIG load will be taken out in 2012.

          But we must be ready. The next two years, we must plan our work and work our plan.

          This is make or break time.

          The stakes are such that we cannot afford to lose. There is no choice. Obama must be gone. The dems in red state senate seats must be gone. And, perhaps most importantly of all, the RINOs must go. We can start with McConnell…

  • manfred

    Under a 2003 bill meant to fight malaria and HIV in children globally we get this nice amendment.

    “Provided, That of the funds appropriated under title III of this Act, not less than $710,000,000 shall be made available for family planning/reproductive health, including in areas where population growth threatens biodiversity or endangered species.”

    So we are spending almost a billion dollars to make sure we don’t have too many pesky third world babies threatening our endangered species.

    • cwilson

      …that’s $710M of my tax dollars going towards abortion funding — not “counseling” or free condoms.

      • Flagstaff

        “We can kill ‘em now, or we can kill ‘em later.”

  • cwilson

    Amends section 128 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to provide $350M — $35M/year for 10 years — to create a new “San Francisco Bay Restoration Program.

    If, in 2000 pages, a random “finger drop” lands on pork…what proportion of the bill is pork? (Need repeated trials for a true statistical sampling, but I don’t have time. However, I think it’s pretty likely the bill has an extremely low substance-to-pork ratio…)

    • izoneguy

      N/T

  • drfredc

    Perhaps the Senate GOP could combine the budget and tax bill, then fillibuster both until the junk is taken out, or the GOP House takes over… ?

    • izoneguy

      Obstruct, shut down, fillibuster – what ever it takes….
      And don’t let the RINO’s “compromise”….

  • msctex

    . . .submitted their wishlist, and they have dropped an unworkable mess on the Republicans’ doorstep.

    Ignore it. Start fresh.

  • speciallist

    this is a bad dream….

    have you ever stepped in a big pile of dog poop? and you stand there with one foot raised up…wondering what to do next

    it’s like that

  • eastbaylarry

    4 SEC. 514. None of the funds made available in this
    5 Act may be transferred to any department, agency, or in
    6 strumentality of the United States Government, except
    7 pursuant to a transfer made by, or transfer authority pro
    8 vided in, this Act or any other appropriations Act.

    How can a high school grad such as myself make any sense out of this? Further sampling led to numerous ‘exceptions’ and requirements for those exceptions.

    If even one Republican votes for this mess they deserve 155 weeks of unemployment insurance payments.

    • The_Gadfly

      Not that they’ll get it, revolving doors being what they are in DC.

  • earlgrey

    and tha this bill is a big part of that. Is that paranoia

    You know when a dem indicates he is not going to vote for something that his party wants him too, he eventually folds and votes as they want. When a republican says they’ll vote for something the conservatives don’t want they always follow through with some flimsy excuse that almost feels like they are rubbing our noses in it.

  • burbmom

    the Desert Research Institute will “monitor reservoir evaporation and invasive species in the southwestern United States”. (p. 450) Might as well have described it as watching paint dry. This appropriation rounded out the long list of Nevada funding.

  • texasgalt

    but at this point, does it matter?

  • The_Gadfly

    5 For making, after June 15 of the current fiscal year,
    6 benefit payments to individuals under title XVI of the So-
    7 cial Security Act, for unanticipated costs incurred for the
    8 current fiscal year, such sums as may be necessary.

    Just another random check – page 1081

    Also inclined to agree with eastbaylarry about making sense of this mess, only in my case I have a college degree in what is effectively Technical Writing. Of course the point of my training was to clarify, not obfuscate.

  • kdoc

    In the two examples quoted above (via cut-and-paste), notice that several words are hyphenated or just split at the end of a line. This is to prevent word searches from returning matches. In the quote referenced by Gadfly, “So-cial” is broken, so if you do a search for “Social Security” you won’t hit it.

    This is very commonly done when our esteemed public servants are trying to hide their pork.

  • rch1176

    Boehner has the power to stop Omnibus and I called his office to urge that he do it. He should ditch the tax agreement in protest. The move would defend the Tea Party position on excessive spending and he could follow it up w/ a better tax bill in Jan.

    It’s a no-brained. Really, this Reid Omnibus would set the agenda of the new Congress and derail many of Boehner’s priorities. Example: the crap bill would fund Obamacare.

    • earlgrey

      or if it woudl work. Senate votes up or down on the bill tonight. I haven’t heard Boehner use language strong enough to suggest he’d walk away.

      • rch1176

        We elected Republicans in Nov. to stop Congress from force-feeding us crap sandwiches such as this. They need to find the guts to stop it. If not, millions of Tea Party conservatives will choose to stay home in 2012. Trent Lott ilk in the Sen., such as Bennett, Bond, and Voinovich already have me questioning why I bothered in Nov.

        In truth, it would take unity between Boehner/McConnell. Public opinion is squarely behind the GOP position on deficit spending/taxation. Wind is at their backs. If they won’t go to the mat under these conditions, we should begin to doubt their commitment to our cause.

    • avgjo

      about Boehner not having the guts to do this, we should ‘encourage’ him. Re-election is 2 years down the road.

      That’s a good amount of time to (a) find a good challenger and (b) raise LOTS of money for that person.

  • jstjoan

    This is a failed program according to this online Fact Sheet produced by National Immigration Forum, which claims it is a “leading immigrant advocacy organization”:

    http://www.immigrationforum.org/images/uploads/2010/OperationStonegardenFactSheet.pdf

    The paper indicates the budget was suppose to be reduced to $50 million this year and cites numerous instances of waste and abuse. They summarize by stating the program is clearly lacking in oversight and accountability.

    Don;t get me wrong, I’m all for Border Security but I do not support wasteful programs. Besides, the paper brings up a good point; why is this program run by FEMA and not DHS? Seems redundant.

  • izoneguy

    And they just drop it in the Republicans lap as an early Christmas present?

    It will take 3 weeks to read it…..

    None of the crap I have seen in this travesty is vital for the functioning of our government.

    This looks like Stimulus III

    Let’s say NO and start over Jan 5, 2011

    • rch1176

      W/out RINOS, would be possible to scrap in Senate. We could filibuster w/ huge public support. Media reporting, however, that Bennett, Bond, Voinovich, and at least one more willing to spit on us.

      Better chance is for Boehner to take a unique approach. See above.

  • eastbaylarry

    through Sept 2012, thereby cancelling any ‘defunding’ planned by the Conservative new hires we sent to Washington.

    Many many pages starting about page 977.

  • eastbaylarry

    Wording I’m finding all through this bill such as:

    “…$65,000,000, to remain available through Sep
    tember 30, 2013:…”

    Does this phrase mean this money cannot be spent *before* the date given?

    If not, then what does this mean? If so, why is it in *this* bill?

    • Kyle-MI

      If it doesn’t kick in until the next fiscal cycle, then they can say that spending is frozen at last year’s level and yet still allocate more money.

      In other words, any freeze on spending is just smoke and mirrors.

  • fpete13527

    I received this breakdown through a number of emails:
    After reading parts of this pile of sewage it sounds pretty accurate as a summation,

    Omnibus Porkulus Bill

    Weighing in at nearly 2,000 pages you can imagine there are an equal number of reasons to dislike this behemoth. Chief among them:

    ? Cost. Though Democrats will say the omnibus holds spending below the FY11 discretionary cap proposed by Senators Sessions and McCaskill ($1.108 trillion), per usual the devil is in the details. As the table below shows, total discretionary spending embodied in this omnibus exceeds $1.2 trillion:

    - Total outlays: $1,267 billion.
    - $9 billion more spending than FY2010 spending ($1,098 billion in FY 2010).
    - Nearly $18 billion more than spending contained in the September CR.

    ? Earmarks. The Democrats? omnibus contains thousands of pet projects that have not been properly vetted. Need proof? Just search the bill using the following terms ?Hawaii, ? ?Montana,? ?Nevada? ?.. or check out the Appropriations website

    ? Funding for Obamacare. The omnibus contains more than $1 billion in funding for programs initiated by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA, aka ?The Clearly Unconstitutional Health Care Bill?) such as:
    - An allocation of $750 million from the Prevention and Public Health Fund ?slush fund? for a variety of programs
    - $175.9 million ?adjustment? in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services? Program Management account to implement the massive Medicaid expansion and cuts to Medicare Advantage
    - $3 million for the workforce commission, and
    - $80.7 million ?adjustment? (plus-up) for HHS program management

    ? Procedure. This nearly 2,000-page behemoth was crafted in secrecy outside the normal appropriations process and without the proper oversight. The end result is a bloated, pork laden ?Christmas tree? of irresponsible spending.

  • jstjoan

    Okay, I haven’t read all of the comments to see if anyone has discussed this already, but over and over again, this bill makes funds available until September 30, 2012, which is the end FY 2011.

    Am I incorrect in thinking that this bill was meant to fund the government through September 30, 2011 which is the end of the CURRENT FY 2010?

    Are the Dems trying to tie the hands of the new Republican Congress by appropriating for an additional year?

    • jstjoan

      I realize the gov’t is currently operating under a continuing resolution. So, if this is the appropriations bill for FY 2011, when does the rest of this current year get funded.

      Sorry for my confusion.

  • AceInTX

    They shouldn’t allow this to go forward until every word of the Bill is read…but every single word of every single earmarks as well if it’s possible to force them to be read.

    I’d also like to see them read off the names of the Senators who requested each of these earmarks as they are read.

    Not sure how the Senate works on stuff like this but I think it should be done if it can be forced…

    And I once again call for every single unanimous consent request to be objected to….make Ried and the gang call the roll to turn out the lights at night…and back on in the morning….make points of order that a quorum is not present and make every Senator be on the floor for votes as often as possible

    This should not be done in a lame duck session…and it should be dragged out as long as possible. even if it passes…each extra day Republicans can drag it out….is one less day Ried can bring up Start or DADT…and anything else he want’s to bring up!

  • tomgoffe

    From Rep. Brad Miller (D-NC): asking to spend $1,000,000 on “project is advanced technology R&D, benefitting the sewn products and hosiery industry sectors through improved knowledge of body shape and the dissemination of said knowledge to improve apparel and hosiery fit and comfort for the consumer. Dissemination of new technology from around the globe to manufacturers and supply chain partners enhances domestic competitiveness.”

    • jlsankot

      this is because his wife can’t find a pair of panty hose that fits well?

      Sorry, but this is beyond ridiculous, and I’d bet this isn’t the only (“no more”) earmark(s) that is.

      This is so tiresome. Another day to get on the phone and tell the GOP to get a spine.

  • Marcus_Traianus

    $800,000 to;

    ?the Farm Agency to carry out a pilot program to demonstrate the use of new technologies that increase the rate of growth of re-forested hardwood trees on private non-industrial forest lands, enrolling lands on the Gulf of Mexico that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

    Oh and read Section 718. Designation of Wilderness Areas.. I think the Federal government just took over the state of Montana.

    • Marcus_Traianus

      I have some left over fertilizer from last season. They can have it a discount, say. $700,000?

      C’mon guys everybody wins on that deal. You save $100,000, the trees grow faster and I get rid of some surplus.

  • mikerazar

    should be kicked out of the Party.