I always publish retractions and corrections when I am wrong, and I was in my blog yesterday.  I said the House bill had over 6.4 Billion in pork spending.  I was wrong.

It is actually over 20 billion.  My bad.

Congress loads up $20 billion in pork

Congress  has loaded up President Bush's request for "emergency" spending on the Iraq war with more than $20 billion in "pork" for members' districts.

Originally, Bush asked for $105 billion in emergency funding. Democratic leaders say they want to grant the request to continue funding the war despite their desire to end it.

"We have provided all of the money the president requested- and more," boasted House Majority Leader Steny  H. Hoyer.

It also includes $16 million to convert the old Food and Drug Administration building in southwest D.C. into more office space for the Capitol. That "emergency" expenditure comes at a time when taxpayers already shell out $600 million "more than double the original estimate" for a mammoth expansion of the Capitol, which includes 160,000 feet of new office space

Well, isn't it nice to know that Senate hates to be left out?  When the bill reached them, they left the timetable intact and loaded their own laundry list of Pork:

Senate war bill features $20B in pork

Like their counterparts in the House, the Senate has larded its version of an “emergency” war spending bill with nearly $20 billion in pork-barrel outlays, including $100 million for the two major political parties’ 2008 presidential conventions.

The $121 billion bill includes $102 billion for the troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as $14 billion for Hurricane Katrina aid and more than $4 billion for “emergency farm relief.”

Most of it is likely the same as the House bill, but the 100 million for the conventions was slipped in here:

The $100 million for the political party conventions — $50 million for the Democratic convention in Denver and $50 million for the Republican convention in St. Paul, Minn. — is included in a section described as “Katrina recovery, veterans’ care and for other purposes.”

Very nice.  I am sure that will be a constant source of pride and happiness to the Katrina Victims.

The Senate Appropriations Committee noted that the committee provided roughly $50 million to help defray the costs of policing the 2004 conventions. A senate staffer pointed out, however, that the 2004 funding earned approval through the normal appropriations process rather than the less-stringent “emergency” process permitted for the current bill.

Sneaky sneaky.  Some were a bit aghast at it:

“Congress will have to make the choice between booze and balloons or bullets and body armor,” John Hart, a spokesman for Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., told The Examiner on Monday. Coburn and a handful of other senators hope to shame their colleagues into stripping the pork out of the war spending bill.

Coburn and his fellow pork foes will offer a series of amendments this week aimed at eliminating fat domestic spending or redirecting it to crucial needs for soldiers, sailors and airmen.

“Maybe this is what Democrats mean by ‘phased redeployment’,” Hart said.

But the usual suspects defended it:

Senate Appropriations Chairman Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., Monday defended the extra spending, describing it as “common sense and good economics.”

“Funding for the war is not the only critical need worthy of the supplemental spending,” he said. The war “must not obliterate every other concern.”

The one liners continue:

The new bill also includes $13 million for “ewe replacement and retention,” $24 million for sugar beets growers and $95 million for dairy producers.

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the bill contains “enough in each of the four food groups for a balanced meal.”

And it includes $3.5 million for the Capitol’s guided–tour program and $20 million for, in part, insect infestation control in Nevada, thanks to Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Among the other beneficiaries of the Senate “emergency” war bill is the tree assistance program, including, specifically, Christmas trees.

“This bill is both literally and figuratively a Christmas tree,” said one Senate staffer who has studied the bill.

I will not address the merits of the individual projects.  I am not knowledgeable enough to take on that task.  I would wager some are valid and some are useless.

But I do find it a disgusting use of tax payer time to load this into a war spending bill just to grease it along.  And hiding the 100 Million for their damn conventions in a Katrina Relief package is downright despicable.

The Democrats who took control of Congress (both houses) claimed to be on a New Direction, and earmarks were a popular topic in the campaign.  But apparently that was lip service as they are as prevalent as ever.

The troops need support, and instead they are being shamelessly used as a gravy train even as they are being offered a slow bleed and cut and run solution to a cause they believe in.

If this is how congress plans to support the troops, I think they should be ashamed.

The people deserve better and the troops deserve better. 

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