Congress Accused of Sneaking Unrelated ‘Pork’ Spending into Sandy Emergency Aid Bill

Loading

Jason Howerton @ The Blaze:

American Majority Action Spokesman Ron Meyer Says Sandy Aid Bill Packed With Pork Spending

New York Senators Charles Schumer (L) and Kirsten Gillibrand brief the media on a bipartisan Hurricane Sandy relief bill voted on December 28, 2012 on Capitol Hill. Credit: AFP/Getty Images

The Senate approved a $60.4 billion recovery package on Friday intended to help the states affected by Hurricane Sandy in November. Appearing on “Cavuto” on Friday night, American Majority Action spokesman Ron Meyer said the bill was also packed with tons of “pork” spending, some of which won’t even occur until after 2013.

Some of the pork spending reportedly goes towards projects that have nothing to do with Hurricane Sandy or the victims, including millions of dollars for tree planting in areas untouched by Sandy and a new roof for the Smithsonian Museum. When an elected representative appropriates government spending for local projects to help his or her district, it is know as “pork barrel” spending.

“Why was this in the emergency bill for Sandy? It doesn’t make any sense.” Only $1 out of every $6 — $9 billion of the $60 billion will be spent in 2013. That means 85 percent doesn’t come until 2014 and beyond. That’s not immediate relief. What this bill is fundamentally is a pork bill.”

Read more

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
4 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Everyone who is surprised by this, please stand on your heads…

Hurricane Sandy destroyed over 650 mature trees in New York’s Central Park. Do a Google image search using the terms “Hurricane Sandy Central Park.” I would guess such damages to parks and other public areas wasn’t confined to that location alone.

The Smithsonian suffered storm damages. Fortunately none of our collected national treasures were damaged or lost. There were roof damages to the National Museum of Natural History, the National Museum of American History, the National Air and Space Museum, etc.

Should we not spend public money to repair such damages to public property?

@Greg:

Let New York pay for their own damn trees. No one from New York helped my state when wild fires burned out almost 1,700 homes.

Unless I’m confused which state you’re referring to, I seem to recall that your governor happily accepted $6.4 billion in federal Recovery Act money which he used to balance the state budget, thereby leaving the $9.1 billion “rainy day” fund untouched. Maybe out-of-control wild fires are the sort of “rainy day” the fund was intended for. Or maybe the governor’s creative arithmetic has caught up with him.