Obama" "no pork". Really? List the pork: (Representatives, interstate)

[ottomobeale]

>$30 billion for COBRA insurance extension(pork)
$36 billion for expanded unemployment benefits (pork)<

YEA! **** all those people who normally have a job but got laid off!
They should have been living in tents so they could save 90% of it since they should have known they would be laid off in 2008-2009!

Yes there is pork in the bill. The list is way the heck over-reaching.

[Hesster]

It seems to me that some people think that we can just wave a magic wand and create jobs, or just have a bill that says '$450 billion to create some jobs'.

Well, golly shucks gee. How are we going to upgrade the electric grid or manufacture advanced batteries without employing people?

[delusianne]

Originally Posted by seamusnh

Are these elements of the bill solid needed investments that will boost the economy and add jobs or are they "pork"?

$50 million for the National Endowment for the Art (pork)
$380 million in the Senate bill for the Women, Infants and Children program (pork)
$300 million for grants to combat violence against women (pork)
$2 billion for federal child-care block grants (pork)
$6 billion for university building projects (ok)
$15 billion for boosting Pell Grant college scholarships (pork)
$4 billion for job-training programs, including $1.2 billion for “youths” up to the age of 24 (ok)
$1 billion for community-development block grants (pork)
$4.2 billion for “neighborhood stabilization activities” (pork)
$650 million for digital-TV coupons; $90 million to educate “vulnerable populations” (pork)
$150 million for he Smithsonian (pork)
$34 million to renovate the Department of Commerce headquarters (pork)
$500 million for improvement projects for National Institutes of Health facilities (pork)
$44 million for repairs to Department of Agriculture headquarters (pork)
$350 million for Agriculture Department computers (pork)
$88 million to help move the Public Health Service into a new building (pork)
$448 million for constructing a new Homeland Security Department headquarters (pork)
$600 million to convert the federal auto fleet to hybrids (pork)
$450 million for NASA (carve-out for “climate-research missions”) (pork)
$600 million for NOAA (carve-out for “climate modeling”) (pork)
$1 billion for the Census Bureau (pork)
$89 billion for Medicaid (pork)
$30 billion for COBRA insurance extension(pork)
$36 billion for expanded unemployment benefits (pork)
$20 billion for food stamps (pork)
$4.5 billion for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (pork)
$850 million for Amtrak (pork)
$87 million for a polar icebreaking ship (pork)
$1.7 billion for the National Park System (ok)
$55 million for Historic Preservation Fund (pork)
$7.6 billion for “rural community advancement programs” (pork)
$150 million for agricultural-commodity purchases (pork)
$150 million for “producers of livestock, honeybees, and farm-raised fish” (pork)
$2 billion for renewable-energy research ($400 million for global-warming research) (pork)
$2 billion for a “clean coal” power plant in Illinois (ok)
$6.2 billion for the Weatherization Assistance Program (pork)
$3.5 billion for energy-efficiency and conservation block grants (pork)
$3.4 billion for the State Energy Program (pork)
$200 million for state and local electric-transport projects (pork)
$300 million for energy-efficient-appliance rebate programs (pork)
$400 million for hybrid cars for state and local governments (pork)
$1 billion for the manufacturing of advanced batteries (pork)
$1.5 billion for green-technology loan guarantees (pork)
$8 billion for innovative-technology loan-guarantee program (pork)
$2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects (pork)
$4.5 billion for electricity grid (pork)

50 De-Stimulating Facts by Stephen Spruiell & Kevin Williamson on National Review Online=

This is dated Feb. 5 - much has happened since then. Want to go look for an updated version?

Sorry if you think some of these are wasteful... that's a short sighted POV.

Also, none of these meet the actual definition of "pork."

[saganista]

STIMULUS = Tax cuts for the rich and for mega-corporations.
PORK = Everything else.

Sincerely,
The Republicans

[gsupstate]

Originally Posted by kdbrich

That doesn't benefit the obama constituency that doesn't pay taxes, though...

Exactly! That is why a good chunk of this stimulus is one big welfare program, not true job creating stimulus.

[momonkey]

Originally Posted by LogicIsYourFriend

Pork means it is only to benefit a few people as a reciprocity for their campaign funds or other support. Things that benefit the nation as a whole or large geographical locations are not pork. The point of the stimulus is to stimulate. Do you have a better way to stimulate the economy than spend on things that will not only create jobs short-term, but will also create long-term benefits with much needed modernizations to U.S. infrastructure, education, etc.?

We have a Congress to debate and vote on these projects. What is being done here is the hugest financial fraud ever in the history of the planet.

[camping!]

Originally Posted by delusianne

This is dated Feb. 5 - much has happened since then. Want to go look for an updated version?

Sorry if you think some of these are wasteful... that's a short sighted POV.

Also, none of these meet the actual definition of "pork."

Do you have links on the new version? Or perhaps you might know if these things made the cut:

$300 million for grants to combat violence against women (pork)
$34 million to renovate the Department of Commerce headquarters
$500 million for improvement projects for National Institutes of Health facilities (pork)
$44 million for repairs to Department of Agriculture headquarters
$88 million to help move the Public Health Service into a new building (pork)
$448 million for constructing a new Homeland Security Department headquarters (pork)
$600 million to convert the federal auto fleet to hybrids (pork)
$87 million for a polar icebreaking ship
$300 million for energy-efficient-appliance rebate programs (pork)
$400 million for hybrid cars for state and local governments

I don't mean to put you on the spot, but you seem to know that certain things were cut -- were any of these? I mean, all of that money to move federal employees around? Outrageous! Let them live with the dirty carpet for a few more years...

[SarahSal]

The simple fact is that almost every one of these proposals *will* put people to work - and with staggering unemployment numbers how many more jobs can this country afford to lose? If nothing is done - or the stimulus package is watered down even more - the unemployment rolls will swell as will welfare and food stamp programs. This will further cripple states and municipalities, many already suffering from unmanagebly huge deficits - which will ultimately equal still *more* layoffs. Quite simply, unemployed people don't (and can't) spend money except for basic survival so the suffering retail industry will be the next fatality. And on and on it goes.

As one example; I'd always questioned community block grants until my husband (a contractor) became involved in the programs. What I quickly discovered was how economically far-reaching these programs really are. Poor, elderly people (yes, some with no running water) get tied into water systems or get their leaking roofs fixed or get energy efficient windows or doors - or their faulty and dangerous wiring fixed. Who benefits? The 'customer' of course but also the contractor, the plumber, electrician, the hardware store, the building supply house, etc. These programs with their 'safe, warm and dry' philosophy pump money into the economy and help keep people employed! Some would staunchly argue this is not the government's job - but how different is this than those who defend the economic benefits of a war and the jobs "it' creates? I'd much rather my job-creating tax dollars go to help some 85 year-old woman living on $300 in social security than for bombs and weapons that kill. How can we justify and defend war-time spending so vehemently while deriding helping out the poorest among us - AND creating jobs in the process?
I'd wager there're some of you out there who right now benefits in some big or small way from some type of government-run program....

[Roaddog]

Over 3 million jobs lost and climbing, this package will not fix that.

[EinsteinsGhost]

Originally Posted by camping!

Do you have links on the new version? Or perhaps you might know if these things made the cut:

1. $300 million for grants to combat violence against women (pork)
2. $500 million for improvement projects for National Institutes of Health facilities (pork)
3. $88 million to help move the Public Health Service into a new building (pork)
4. $448 million for constructing a new Homeland Security Department headquarters (pork)
5. $600 million to convert the federal auto fleet to hybrids (pork)
6. $300 million for energy-efficient-appliance rebate programs (pork)

#1: What do you think is going to be done to achieve the piece? Let us talk about that first, unlike calling something pork first, and giving it a second thought later.
#2, #3, #4: Infrastructure. How are they pork? Explain.
#5: Incorrect. We're probably talking about 10% of total purchases government makes every year. The opponents of this package are mostly those who can't see the forest looking for trees. This piece is prime example of that. Not only is this going to help automakers and their thousands of vendors, it is also going to help promote more fuel efficient vehicles, help the government spend millions less on fuel and less fuel spent implies less oil imported. How is that pork?
#6: A program that will help manufacturers, retailers and consumers. A program that will help energy consumption, reduced oil consumption. Why is this pork, again?

Originally Posted by Roaddog

Over 3 million jobs lost and climbing, this package will not fix that.

But the very same republicans who are going bonkers over this multi-functional bill (job creation, infrastructure improvement and plans to reduce costs in the future) were for $726 billion in tax cuts (2003) mostly going to the rich which was supposed to create 1.4 million jobs. That was fantasy. This is not.

Why do you think that building a bridge, renovating a building etc is not going to create jobs and have a ripple effect in the economy? Why is it that only businesses can be believed to spend to hire people (and there is no guarantee of that happening) but if government takes the same step to create jobs, it won't work? Explain.