Lard up! Bill re-opening government has earmarks for Durbin, McConnell, cash for Lautenberg’s widow

By Dan Calabrese —— Bio and Archives October 17, 2013

Comments | Print This | Subscribe | Email Us

Remember when Republicans bravely fought excessive government spending, so ferociously that they would even let the government shut down so they could force Democrats to stop pissing away taxpayer money? Remember that?

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Yeah. I know. Neither do I. And now that the shutdown-for-nothing is no more, Congress can get back to the business of what it does best, which is to lard up any and every bill it passes with gratuitous spending that proves all their anti-spending rhetoric to be exactly the rot it is. What have you discovered, Washington Times?

Buried inside the new stopgap spending bill are several goodies, including nearly quadrupling the maximum price of a dam project on the Ohio River that is turning into a boondoggle — up to nearly $3 billion. The bill also includes $174,000 of taxpayer money for the widow of the late Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg. The death gratuity, which has been paid to widows of other lawmakers in the past, raised hackles since Lautenberg was a multimillionaire, while the government is $16.7 trillion in debt. But lawmakers did nix one provision that was in an early draft posted online — they canceled authority to build another Coast Guard cutter, as a cost of nearly $600 million. While leaders announced they’d reached a deal just after noon, the actual bill was still being rewritten late in the afternoon and lawmakers were still arguing over final provisions. They finalized it around 6 p.m. Wednesday. Included in the measure is money to pay back all of the states that signed agreements funding national parks within their borders during the shutdown — with interest. The measure also repays all federal employees for the days the government was shutdown, including the hundreds of thousands who were furloughed and didn’t work.

The dam project was an earmark specifically requested by Mitch McConnell three years ago. He is now trying to deny he had anything to do with this being slipped into the bill. I do not believe him. As far as the death benefit to Mrs. Lautenberg, if there is a policy that makes this standard practice . . . well, I would question that policy, but if it exists, why is it necessary to stick the appropriation into this bill? Why not just pass it as part of normal business? I just thought you'd be relieved to know that business as usual is not only back, but really never left. And no one perpetrates it better than Mitch McConnell - once he's finished waving the surrender flag to Harry Reid. Our government is such an embarrassment.