Congress is out of control

Fmr jarhead · #1 (**permalink**) 12-02-2004, 07:42 AM

CCAGW Slams $388 Billion Omnibus Bill

Citizens Against Government Waste

“Congress stuffed the bill with pork,” Schatz says

(Washington, D.C.) - The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) today criticized Congress for passing an omnibus spending package that funds nine of the 13 fiscal year 2005 appropriations bills. The $388 billion 2005 Omnibus Appropriations Act is temporarily being held up after members of Congress expressed outrage over the discovery of an obscure line in the 1,690-page bill that would give the chairmen of the Appropriations Committees and their staff assistants the authority to access the income tax returns of any American. Republican leaders promised to delete the provision in a special session on Wednesday. President Bush announced his intention to sign the final bill once the provision is removed.

“This bill confirms that the appropriations process is broken,” CCAGW President Tom Schatz said. “The complex spending package was made available to members of Congress only hours before the vote. The invasive IRS measure is typical of last-minute additions to spending bills. Taxpayers have little to be thankful for, as members of Congress have helped themselves to the whole hog on this Thanksgiving.”

While lawmakers and President Bush lauded the omnibus for holding domestic spending, excluding defense and foreign aid, members of Congress showed no restraint in their hunger for pork-barrel projects. The thousands of earmarks lurking in the bill include: $3.5 million for bus acquisition in Atlanta, Ga.; $2 million for kitchen relocation in Fairbanks North Star Borough in Fairbanks, Alaska; $1.5 million for a demonstration project to transport naturally chilled water from Lake Ontario to Lake Onondaga; $500,000 for the Kincaid Park Soccer and Nordic Ski Center in Anchorage, Alaska; $250,000 for the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tenn.; $200,000 for Fenton Street Village pedestrian linkages in Montgomery Co., Md.; $100,000 for a municipal swimming pool in Ottawa, Kan.; $80,000 for the San Diego Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center; $75,000 for the Paper Industry International Hall of Fame in Appleton, Wis.; $35,000 for the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame; and $25,000 for fitness equipment for the YMCA in Bradford County, Pa.

“The fiscal 2005 federal budget is stingy only in a relative sense,” Schatz continued. “If Congress is truly tightening its belt, then why was it necessary to increase the debt ceiling by $800 billion? There is little purpose to a debt ‘ceiling’ that can be arbitrarily raised to accommodate the congressional appetite for pork. The boasting over this bill shows that Congress is a long way from passing a truly balanced budget.”

The domestic discretionary spending cited by congressional leaders represents only one-seventh of the total $2.3 trillion federal budget. The administration plans to halve the deficit over five years, but during that time and even after the baby boomers begin to retire, the national debt will continue to rise.

“If Congress cannot make the easy decisions by eliminating unnecessary earmarks, like $200,000 for the Aviation Hall of Fame or $100,000 for the Punxsutawney Weather Museum, there is very little hope for social security or tax reform,” Schatz concluded. “Deeper cuts must be sought in the federal budget to prevent a fiscal disaster. A critical part of rooting out wasteful and unnecessary spending is to consider and debate appropriations bills separately, in a timely manner, in order to avoid resorting to a pork-filled omnibus.”

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, the nation's largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.

**dilloduck** · #2 (**permalink**) 12-02-2004, 07:50 AM

Truly an example of greed and payoffs. Pardon my ignorance but did the line item veto ever pass. If so, Bush needs to start editing . If not, this bill ought to be vetoed.

Fmr jarhead · #3 (**permalink**) 12-02-2004, 07:58 AM

Nope...no line item veto for the Pres.....

It pisses me off that they also snuck in a raise for themselves, on top of their already stellar health care, and retirement package!

**dilloduck** · #4 (**permalink**) 12-02-2004, 08:00 AM

I know i'm dreaming but it would be nice if the media exposed Congress to the same scrutiny that they do the president. I hate em sneaking by shit like this!

Fmr jarhead · #5 (**permalink**) 12-02-2004, 08:12 AM

From:
CAGW website

Quote:

Most insulting of all to taxpayers, this sloppy, bloated, budget-busting, overdue piece of legislation guarantees a pay raise for Congress. Because lawmakers are not allowed to offer amendments to the spending package, the annual “cost-of-living adjustment” is automatic instead of being subjected to a separate roll call vote. A senator who currently makes $158,100 will get a raise of about $4,000 thanks to this glorious legislative “achievement.”

Merlin1047 · #6 (**permalink**) 12-02-2004, 12:21 PM

Poop - that's small time stuff. Want to know where some REAL pork is to be found - look at Boston. That's right, Boston. The stomping grounds of kerry and kennedy. If kennedy's addiction to alcohol has been diminished, his addiction to taxpayer money continues unabated. Close behind is Sen Poodle who apparently still thinks that money grows on wives - er, ah - I mean trees.

The following article from the Boston Business Journal is an attempt by the prime contractor to defend their cost overruns. The article is misleading in that it states that the cost overruns amount to $1.6 BILLION. That's not entirely true. The final cost of the Big Dig is approximately triple the original bid. Granted, some of that is due to inflation. But whatever happened to making a contractor live up to the terms of the agreement?

That also begs the question - how much of this is being funneled to organized crime and how much is kennedy and/or kerry skimming out of this huge pool of money.

Sixteen billion dollars. All that so that the good people of Boston would no longer have their sensibilities offended by having to look at that ugly above-ground interstate.

Now, who was bitching about wanting more money for AIDS research? Talk to Teddy K. Maybe he can spare a few mil out of petty cash.

http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/st...7/daily42.html

LATEST NEWS
February 20, 2003
Bechtel/Parsons defends Big Dig cost record

Boston Business Journal

Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, the lead designer and private sector manager of Boston's Big Dig highway construction project, responded to a three-part Boston Globe series about $1.6 billion in cost overruns with a 24-page letter to local leaders.

The Big Dig is the largest and most expensive urban highway construction project in U.S. history. The project, which been under construction since 1986 and is to be complete in 2005, is estimated to cost $14.6 billion.

The project was partially funded by at least $2.28 billion of municipal bonds issued by the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, which runs the Big Dig.

In its report titled, "The Boston Globe's Big Dig: A Disservice to the Truth," Bechtel/Parsons defended its work and refuted 28 specific allegations in the Globe stories.

Bechtel/Parsons is a joint venture between construction engineering firms Bechtel Group Inc. and Parsons Brinckerhoff.

"The Globe's reporters never understood the fundamentals of the engineering and construction industry," Bechtel/Parsons said in the report. "Their stories do not accurately explain either B/PB's contractual responsibilities on the project or the work performed. They mistake key facts and resort to half-truths and innuendo to indict B/PB unfairly."

San Francisco-based Bechtel Group is one of the world's largest construction firms with 2001 revenue of $13.4 billion. Its past work includes the Hoover Dam and 32-mile undersea tunnel between England and France. New York-based Parsons Brinckerhoff, whose founder designed New York's first subway line, has 200 offices worldwide and work that includes wind farms in New Zealand, a power plant in Kuwait and the Glenwood Canyon Tunnels in Colorado.

Boston Globe spokesman Maynard Scarborough said the paper's editor, Martin Baron, received a copy of the report late Thursday morning and was not yet ready to comment.

Fmr jarhead · #7 (**permalink**) 12-02-2004, 01:21 PM

Did you mention that it LEAKS? Hmmmmm....not going to be driving under Boston any time soon, that's for sure.

I can tell you some stories about your cool new bridge in Boston, too......they bought their lighting for the bridge about 4 or 5 times, seems they kept losing the inventory, or so I am told.

dmp · #8 (**permalink**) 12-02-2004, 01:38 PM

yay baby!! 3.5% raise!!

Fmr jarhead · #9 (**permalink**) 12-02-2004, 01:51 PM

...but are they doing 3.5% more work?

...and they never have to vote on a raise, again, since the legislation passed, they get the automatic cost of living raises every year.

I'm not thinking this is a good thing.....at all. (not to mention the staff budgets on top of the wages they are paid, too)

150K per year, and they are only in session what.....5 months per year.....4 times the pay of school teachers? Something is out of whack, here!

dmp · #10 (**permalink**) 12-02-2004, 02:01 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Fmr jarhead

...but are they doing 3.5% more work?

...and they never have to vote on a raise, again, since the legislation passed, they get the automatic cost of living raises every year.

I'm not thinking this is a good thing.....at all. (not to mention the staff budgets on top of the wages they are paid, too)

150K per year, and they are only in session what.....5 months per year.....4 times the pay of school teachers? Something is out of whack, here!

They don't get 3.5... -=d=- and gop-jeff and a couple others get 3.5%

Fmr jarhead · #11 (**permalink**) 12-02-2004, 02:16 PM

My bad....it is good for civilian and military pay raises, but I don't think that Congress should get automatic raises every year. (and then vote up or down on other's pay increases)

sealybobo · #12 (**permalink**) 10-01-2008, 11:06 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Fmr jarhead

CCAGW Slams $388 Billion Omnibus Bill

Citizens Against Government Waste

“Congress stuffed the bill with pork,” Schatz says

(Washington, D.C.) - The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) today criticized Congress for passing an omnibus spending package that funds nine of the 13 fiscal year 2005 appropriations bills. The $388 billion 2005 Omnibus Appropriations Act is temporarily being held up after members of Congress expressed outrage over the discovery of an obscure line in the 1,690-page bill that would give the chairmen of the Appropriations Committees and their staff assistants the authority to access the income tax returns of any American. Republican leaders promised to delete the provision in a special session on Wednesday. President Bush announced his intention to sign the final bill once the provision is removed.

“This bill confirms that the appropriations process is broken,” CCAGW President Tom Schatz said. “The complex spending package was made available to members of Congress only hours before the vote. The invasive IRS measure is typical of last-minute additions to spending bills. Taxpayers have little to be thankful for, as members of Congress have helped themselves to the whole hog on this Thanksgiving.”

While lawmakers and President Bush lauded the omnibus for holding domestic spending, excluding defense and foreign aid, members of Congress showed no restraint in their hunger for pork-barrel projects. The thousands of earmarks lurking in the bill include: $3.5 million for bus acquisition in Atlanta, Ga.; $2 million for kitchen relocation in Fairbanks North Star Borough in Fairbanks, Alaska; $1.5 million for a demonstration project to transport naturally chilled water from Lake Ontario to Lake Onondaga; $500,000 for the Kincaid Park Soccer and Nordic Ski Center in Anchorage, Alaska; $250,000 for the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tenn.; $200,000 for Fenton Street Village pedestrian linkages in Montgomery Co., Md.; $100,000 for a municipal swimming pool in Ottawa, Kan.; $80,000 for the San Diego Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center; $75,000 for the Paper Industry International Hall of Fame in Appleton, Wis.; $35,000 for the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame; and $25,000 for fitness equipment for the YMCA in Bradford County, Pa.

“The fiscal 2005 federal budget is stingy only in a relative sense,” Schatz continued. “If Congress is truly tightening its belt, then why was it necessary to increase the debt ceiling by $800 billion? There is little purpose to a debt ‘ceiling’ that can be arbitrarily raised to accommodate the congressional appetite for pork. The boasting over this bill shows that Congress is a long way from passing a truly balanced budget.”

The domestic discretionary spending cited by congressional leaders represents only one-seventh of the total $2.3 trillion federal budget. The administration plans to halve the deficit over five years, but during that time and even after the baby boomers begin to retire, the national debt will continue to rise.

“If Congress cannot make the easy decisions by eliminating unnecessary earmarks, like $200,000 for the Aviation Hall of Fame or $100,000 for the Punxsutawney Weather Museum, there is very little hope for social security or tax reform,” Schatz concluded. “Deeper cuts must be sought in the federal budget to prevent a fiscal disaster. A critical part of rooting out wasteful and unnecessary spending is to consider and debate appropriations bills separately, in a timely manner, in order to avoid resorting to a pork-filled omnibus.”

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, the nation's largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.

This is one way the GOP wasted our money back then. I love history.