It is Sunday morning and I have braced myself in front of the TeeVee and am set to watch Grampy McSame as he tries, insanely in my humble opinion, to tear down Obama's Jobs Bill (AKA, Stimulus Package). He begins by claiming again to represent the people of Arizona (if you are being represented by John McCain, you must be either his wife or a member of her Country Club). He begins by criticizing the TARP - the scheme that he suspended his campaign to return to Washington D.C. to vote for. And the very same scheme that Bush/Cheney told Americans MUST be passed immediately or we would face very dire consequences. But now "[t]he current G.O.P. acts as if it -- and we -- have all the time in the world....If anything, the Republican Congressional leadership seems to be emulating John McCain's September stunt of ''suspending'' his campaign to ''fix'' the Wall Street meltdown. For all his bluster, McCain in the end had no fixes to offer and sat like a pet rock at the White House meeting on the crisis before capitulating to the bailout. His imitators likewise posture in public about their determination to take action, then do nothing while more and more Americans cry for help." (Frank Rich, NYTimes, February 1, 2009). Grampy knows that America is hurting and that we need jobs. McSame apparently objects to spending money when Democrats suggest that we spend money, NOT when Republicans suggest (it is their only suggestion) "tax cuts." Bob Schieffer mentions the timing issue - we need to do something, even if it's wrong. To this McSame falls back on the "this is not bi-partisan - it is just picking off a couple republicans." Schieffer asks the time-honored question "what is it you guys want?" McSame keeps harping on the fact that republicans have not been included in the drafting of the legislation, he never answered the question about what it would take to get him and other rethugs to vote for the damn bill.Here's a breakdown of the damage that the losers have wrought thus far: (CNN)
Italicized comments added by this blogger.
Partially cut:
• $3.5 billion for energy-efficient federal buildings (original bill $7 billion)
• $75 million from Smithsonian (original bill $150 million)
• $200 million from Environmental Protection Agency Superfund (original bill $800 million)
• $100 million from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (original bill $427 million)
• $100 million from law enforcement wireless (original bill $200 million)
• $300 million from federal fleet of hybrid vehicles (original bill $600 million)
• $100 million from FBI construction (original bill $400 million)
Fully eliminated:
• $55 million for historic preservation
• $122 million for Coast Guard polar icebreaker/cutters
• $100 million for Farm Service Agency modernization
• $50 million for Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service
• $65 million for watershed rehabilitation (Who needs clean water???)
• $100 million for distance learning
• $98 million for school nutrition(Our kids are fat, okay, this is a time-bomb waiting to blow!)
• $50 million for aquaculture
• $2 billion for broadband (We don't really want to join the 21st century, do we?)
• $100 million for National Institute of Standards and Technology
• $50 million for detention trustee
• $25 million for Marshalls Construction
• $300 million for federal prisons (The United States incarcerates more people per cap than any other country in the world, so why we would want to spend money on prisons?)
• $300 million for BYRNE Formula grant program (I had to google it. Here's a link.)
• $140 million for BYRNE Competitive grant program
• $10 million state and local law enforcement (Did you want safer neighborhoods? Nah, I didn't think so.)
• $50 million for NASA
• $50 million for aeronautics
• $50 million for exploration
• $50 million for Cross Agency Support (Ever heard anybody say that 9/11 was the failure of communication between agencies?)
• $200 million for National Science Foundation
• $100 million for science (I thought science was back in the new administration, what gives?)
• $1 billion for Energy Loan Guarantees (Energy, remember that? It's a security issue now.)
• $4.5 billion for General Services Administration
• $89 million General Services Administration operations
• $50 million from Department of Homeland Security (Here's proof: the GOP doesn't want to keep America safe!)
• $200 million Transportation Security Administration
• $122 million for Coast Guard Cutters, modifies use
• $25 million for Fish and Wildlife
• $55 million for historic preservation
• $20 million for working capital fund
• $165 million for Forest Service capital improvement
• $90 million for State and Private Wildlife Fire Management
• $1 billion for Head Start/Early Start (What is this? Giving low-income, minority kids a fighting chance? Not for the GOP!)
• $5.8 billion for Health Prevention Activity (Health Prevention? May want to reconsider this title, eh?)
• $2 billion for Health Information Technology Grants
• $600 million for Title I (No Child Left Behind) (The mandate of over-testing and under-funding - what? Fund it, what are they thinking?)
• $16 billion for school construction (Crumbling schools, they were good enough for Grampy, they should be good enough for your kids, too.)
• $3.5 billion for higher education construction (Construction equals JOBS.)
• $1.25 billion for project based rental
• $2.25 billion for Neighborhood Stabilization
• $1.2 billion for retrofitting Project 8 housing (Wanna stop homelessness, anybody?)
• $40 billion for state fiscal stabilization (includes $7.5 billion of state incentive grants)(Here's a modest proposal: Any state whose senators vote against the Jobs Bill, gets zero money for their state, watch 'em line up to support this bill.)
