Several days ago Congress was successful at overriding a ‘water projects’ bill that President Bush had halted with a veto. The media and most democrats were feeling a sense of accomplishment about that. That is understandable, since President Bush has shown that he will use the veto.
The objection that President Bush had against the bill had to do with excessive spending, but until today I didn’t know what was behind that.
Follow the history of this bill:
The Army Corp of Engineers was seeking about 5 billion dollars for various water projects.
The bill was approved in the Senate, but came out with a price tag of 14 billion.
The bill then went to the House, and was approved with a slight increase to 15 billion.
The bill then went to a conference committee to merge the house and senate versions. Mission accomplished, but the price tag went up to 23 billion.
Review the numbers and think PORK!
5 billion dollars of water projects and 18 billion dollars of PORK!. Anybody else feeling sick?
This bill obviously got a lot of yes votes (before and after the veto). My question: Was there anyone actually voting to approve funding for the water projects? Seems that most might have been voting to approve their favorite brand of pork.
Obviously our government is obsessed with spending and there is no one to tell them NO!
At least half of these congressional men and women would be willing to sit down with you today and say that we need to increase government revenue by raising taxes. I say punch them in the face!
djbtol