Pork Stuffed Bill

So what is in the bill that avoids the fiscal cliff?

"The mix of tax perks covering the next year, but with budget implications for the next two years includes everything from incentives for employers to hire veterans to incentives for employers to invest in mine safety. But it also includes these:

$430 million for Hollywood through “special expensing rules” to encourage TV and film production in the United States. Producers can expense up to $15 million of costs for their projects.

$331 million for railroads by allowing short-line and regional operators to claim a tax credit up to 50 percent of the cost to maintain tracks that they own or lease.

$222 million for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands through returned excise taxes collected by the federal government on rum produced in the islands and imported to the mainland.

$70 million for NASCAR by extending a “7-year cost recovery period for certain motorsports racing track facilities.”

$59 million for algae growers through tax credits to encourage production of “cellulosic biofuel” at up to $1.01 per gallon.

$4 million for electric motorcycle makers by expanding an existing green-energy tax credit for buyers of plug-in vehicles to include electric motorbikes."

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/01/fiscal-cliff-deal-also-doles-out-millions-for-hollywood-railroads-rum-producers/

Remember, "we" voted for this.

Quick, vote for it before you read it!

Wouldn't it be nice if Barack Obama refused to sign it? Saying instead he wanted a bill that Americans and their reps actually had time to read.

America's Congress, doing business in the dark.

You're talking about pennies :rofllol

All that job creation and energy investment equals about 10 minutes of Defense spending.....Its called perspective guys..I know a million sounds like a billion or a trillion, but they are not the same.

[youtube:31xttayj][/youtube:31xttayj]

FredHayek wrote: Quick, vote for it before you read it!

Wouldn't it be nice if Barack Obama refused to sign it? Saying instead he wanted a bill that Americans and their reps actually had time to read.

That seems to be one of the hallmarks of this and the previous Administration, wait until the very last possible moment then ram a "compromise" bloated with pork for every pet project and special interest group they can jam in. Read the bill before you vote on it? Why bother, it's all good stuff - trust us...

To some people, who aren't afraid.....The entire defense budget is Pork..And were talkin hundreds of billions and trillions now

How does any of that compare to "Bridges to Nowhere"? ($941 MILLION)....

Here's some goodies:

Fiscal Conservatives?

• While conservatives argue that Medicare costs for seniors need to be strictly controlled, $941,000,000 (that’s MILLION), was found for Alaska’s Gravina Island “Bridge to Nowhere”; (Rep. Don Young-R, Sen. Ted Stevens-R).
• Another $150,000 was available for the Port of LaSalle project in Illinois, including the restoration of a replica mule barn.
• Another absolute necessity: $200,000 for renovations to the Permian Basin Petroleum Museum in Texas.
• $50 million for an indoor rain forest and aquarium in the prairies of Iowa.
• Also for Iowa: $400,000 for the "River Music Experience" on the banks of the Mississippi which will "tell the story of the river's musical history."
• There is $142,000 set aside to develop baby food from salmon and $3 million dollars to help young people play golf.
• Idaho State University gets $250,000 to create a "Virtual Idaho Museum of National History."
• Hawaii gets $225,000 to celebrate its statehood.
• Pennsylvania gets $775,000 for the 'Please Touch Me' museum.
• Alaska scores $180,000 for seafood waste."

John Scofield, spokesman for the conservative-led House Appropriations Committee defended the special interest projects: "We think it's perfectly appropriate for members of Congress to make decisions on what additional federal investments to make."

The conservative, far right-wing Heritage Foundation reports "Congress's continued fiscal irresponsibility is clearly exhibited in the thousands of pork projects contained in the fiscal year 2004 omnibus spending bill...Over the last four years, federal spending has increased from $16,000 per household to $20,000 per household, the highest level since World War II."

The NYT editorial board writes, "The earmark tab has quietly grown 30-fold in the years since the GOP won the House in 1994." On top of that, "House leaders are threatening to dole out earmark money only to loyal Republicans. They would stiff taxpayers whose Democratic representatives dared to oppose obvious flaws in the spending measure.

mmmm Bacon....

Both sides do it but letting the public and legislators get to read before they vote on should help to eliminate some of the worst earmarks or prevent some of our politicians from being re-elected.

FredHayek wrote: Both sides do it but letting the public and legislators get to read before they vote on should help to eliminate some of the worst earmarks or prevent some of our politicians from being re-elected.

:Snooze :

Yeah, like that didn't happen before, when the GOTP was slinging pork like it was free popcorn....

Next......

GOP pork slinging? How else do you buy "dem" votes?