Congress has lost its mind...

[xoxoxoBruce]

One is the loopholes in the law, the other is the culture that seeks them out and uses them to cheat society.

[classicman]

WASHINGTON – The Democratic-controlled Senate on Saturday cleared away a Republican filibuster of a huge end-of-year spending bill that rewards most federal agencies with generous budget boosts.

The $1.1 trillion measure combines much of the year's unfinished budget work — only a $626 billion Pentagon spending measure would remain — into a 1,000-plus-page spending bill that would give the Education Department, the State Department, the Department of Health and Human Services and others increases far exceeding inflation.

The 60-34 vote met the minimum threshold to end the GOP filibuster. A final vote was set for Sunday afternoon to send the measure to President Barack Obama.

Democrats held the vote open for an hour to accommodate Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, an Orthodox Jew who walked more than three miles to the Capitol to vote on the Sabbath after attending services at his synagogue in the city's Georgetown neighborhood. Lieberman wore a black wool overcoat and brilliant orange scarf — as well as a wide grin — as he provided the crucial 60th vote.

The measure combines $447 billion in operating budgets with about $650 billion in mandatory payments for federal benefit programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. It wraps together six individual spending bills and also contains more than 5,000 back-home projects sought by lawmakers in both parties.

The measure provides spending increases averaging about 10 percent to programs under immediate control of Congress, blending increases for veterans' programs, NASA and the FBI with a pay raise for federal workers and help for car dealers.

It bundles six of the 12 annual spending bills, capping a dysfunctional appropriations process for budget year that began Oct. 1, dysfunctional appropriations process in which House leaders blocked Republicans from debating key issues and Senate Republicans dragged out debates.

More here

[TheMercenary]

This is what else it paid for.

Consolidated Spending Bill – $9,500 per U.S. Family
Posted by Jim Harper, December 10, 2009 at 9:34 am

The House plans to put all but one of the spending bills that haven’t been completed into one and pass it, perhaps as early as today. The damage is about $9,500 in spending per U.S. family.

The Trasnportation/HUD spending bill will be renamed the “Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010″ and all but one of the remaining bills will be folded into it. The defense spending bill will be treated separately.

We’ll update the cost figures for the transportation/consolidated bill soon, but to get you an idea, here are the bills going into it:

H.R. 2847, The Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010 – $570 per U.S. family
H.R. 3170, The Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2010 – $370 per U.S. family
H.R. 3293, The Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010 – $6,160 per U.S. family
H.R. 3082, The Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act, 2010 – $1,020 per U.S. family
H.R. 3081, The Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2010 – $380 per U.S. family
H.R. 3288, The Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010 – $1,070 per U.S. family

http://www.washingtonwatch.com/blog/...er-u-s-family/

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

This is what else it paid for.

Consolidated Spending Bill – $9,500 per U.S. Family


http://www.washingtonwatch.com/blog/...er-u-s-family/

Washingotonwatch.com....a libertarian mouthpiece....now there is an unbiased source.



At least it notes on its own site that it is not really credible:

The figures on WashingtonWatch.com reveal the relative size and significance of proposals, but they are not perfect predictions and they do not tell you everything you should know. Please keep in mind that:

* WashingtonWatch.com does not report the many benefits that may be provided by government regulation and spending, made possible by taxation. Proposals that “cost” the average American may benefit you, your community, your loved ones, or your employer.

* The dollar amounts on WashingtonWatch.com do not reflect the “incidence” of taxes, spending, or regulation...

* .....Adding up all the proposals tracked by WashingtonWatch.com would produce a number that is essentially meaningless.

In summary, the information on WashingtonWatch.com is not the last word on government spending, taxation, and regulation....

$9,500 per family? Uh.....FAILED....essentially meaningless.

The tin foil hat brigade (and its mercenaries) at work!

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

Pork report. See where your tax dollars went:

The 2005 record is not in jeopardy......13,997 projects for a total of $27.3 billion!

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Redux

The 2005 record is not in jeopardy......13,997 projects for a total of $27.3 billion!

A closer look at 100 projects funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, nothing to do with 2005.

Where are all the millions of jobs promised by Obama, Reid, and Pelosi funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act? It was a total failure in that respect. If it wasn't why are they talking about another stimulus bill aimed specifically at jobs? Why the meeting at the White House to specifically address jobs?

Feb 2009:

"But it does mark the beginning of the end - the beginning of what we need to do to create jobs for Americans scrambling in the wake of layoffs; to provide relief for families worried they won't be able to pay next month's bills; and to set our economy on a firmer foundation.", President Obama.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/02/17/news...cess/index.htm

"The goal at the heart of this plan is to create jobs. Not just any jobs, but jobs doing the work America needs done: repairing our infrastructure, modernizing our schools and hospitals, and promoting the clean, alternative energy sources that will help us finally declare independence from foreign oil," President Obama said Friday morning.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/02/13/news...ulus/index.htm


Reid Feb 2009:

“the main direction is tax cuts, people are really needful of money. About 58% of it is job creating.”

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/op...-39287787.html

Pelosi Interview Feb 2009:

COURIC: Is there anything in the Senate version that you think shouldn't be in the package?
PELOSI: I would like to have seen more of an emphasis on job creation. I don't think there's any doubt that the House bill created more jobs. But this bill will create 3.5 million jobs and three weeks ago we weren't even on this path. I always say to my members, respect it for what it does, rather than judge it for what it does not do, because this does an enormous amount. And in order for it to instill the confidence into the American people, I think we have to believe in what we are doing and we believe in what we are doing.

http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberal...yb20090212.asp

3.5 million jobs? really?

Where are they?

[TheMercenary]

Billions of stimulus dollars had been spent or allocated in Colorado by the end of the third quarter, but The Denver Post reports [1] that the majority of that money had gone to the wealthiest counties. Seven out of 10 counties with the highest unemployment rates in Colorado rank in the bottom half of per-capita stimulus spending, according to the Post. Part of the problem, one small-town administrator says, is that poorer areas can’t afford to get projects “shovel ready” for federal funds. But stimulus administrators point out that merely taking a per-capita look is insufficient because some areas – like Boulder, where the University of Colorado is located – received more funds because of large research grants.

From the smallest of town councils to entire state governments, politicians have been using their stance on the stimulus package as a way to win political favor, reports msnbc.com [2], and it’s causing some serious headaches. Reporter Mike Stuckey looks at North Platte, Neb., where a former housing authority director got canned for supporting the stimulus, despite the housing authority’s rejection of the funds, and Worland, Wyo., where school district trustees turned down stimulus money, despite having low-ranking elementary and high schools.

And finally, The New York Times reports [3] that it’s déjà vu all over again with the health care reform battle, as the political lines being drawn replicate those from the fight to pass the stimulus bill last winter. A band of centrist lawmakers, including Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, R-Maine, Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., wielded their considerable power to scale back the stimulus bill, and they’re doing it again on health care reform.

http://www.propublica.org/ion/stimul...-bit-more-1214

[TheMercenary]

Pork report. See where your tax dollars went:

http://mccain.senate.gov/public/inde...a-73a0841cefe0

[TheMercenary]

Senate sends $1.1T pork-laden bill to Obama

Taxpayer watchdog groups say the bills are loaded with thousands of earmarks, the pork-barrel spending projects lawmakers include to direct money to pet projects.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...bill-to-obama/



“We’re gonna ban all earmarks” President Obama

http://bellalu0.wordpress.com/2009/1...spending-bill/

Both the CBO and GAO studies showed between 650,000 and 1,500,000 million jobs created or saved in the first nine months. Given that a large part of the recovery money has yet to be obligated (by intent), the projections for the anticipated life of the program (18 months to 2 years) exceed 2.5 million.

Its not a perfect program and there is abuse and faulty record keeping, but nearly all economists have agreed the program has helped the economy from falling off the cliff. They only differ on how great the impact has been.

Of course, we know you only accept CBO figures when it supports your agenda and disparage it when it doesnt.....and you have called the program a failure even before it has reached its halfway point.

Your economic plan was so much better....let everything fail and unemployment explode, the strong will survive, and the economy will correct itself.

For one who cares about the little people and the unemployed, that sounds, not only heartless, but irresponsible as well.

Or mayvbe WashingtonWatch, your reliable source on budget impacts, has the answers.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Redux

Both the CBO and GAO studies showed between 650,000 and 1,500,000 million jobs created or saved in the first nine months. Given that a large part of the recovery money has yet to be obligated (by intent), the projections for the anticipated life of the program (18 months to 2 years) exceed 2.5 million.

Its not a perfect program and there is abuse and faulty record keeping, but nearly all economists have agreed the program has helped the economy from falling off the cliff.

Which is why the numbers are pure fantasy and propaganda by the White House. They are filled with fraud, waste, and abuse. Including pet projects and pure pork for Demoncratic Senators who jumped on the money train. Kabuke Theather.

Of course, we know you only accept CBO figures when it supports your agenda and disparage it when it doesnt.....and you have called the program a failure even before it has reached its halfway point.

Concerning job creation it has been a complete failure. That is what I am addressing. Where are the jobs they promised us.

Your economic plan was so much better....let everything fail and unemployment explode, the strong will survive, and the economy will correct itself.

Which plan was that?

For one who cares about the little people and the unemployed, that sounds, not only heartless, but irresponsible as well.

Those are your words not mine.

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

Which is why the numbers are pure fantasy and propaganda by the White House. They are filled with fraud, waste, and abuse. Including pet projects and pure pork for Demoncratic Senators who jumped on the money train. Kabuke Theather.

Concerning job creation it has been a complete failure. That is what I am addressing. Where are the jobs they promised us.

Which plan was that?

Those are your words not mine.

Despite reports with problems with the data that would suggest no more than 10% error:

Fact check:

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the actual number may be more than twice what Recovery.gov says, and as much as 50 percent more than what Obama has been saying. The nonpartisan agency found that:

CBO, Nov. 30: [i]n the third quarter of calendar year 2009, an additional 600,000 to 1.6 million people were employed in the United States, and real (inflation-adjusted) gross domestic product was 1.2 percent to 3.2 percent higher, than would have been the case in the absence of ARRA.

That’s a pretty broad spread, but CBO says the range includes the views of most economists and reflects the inherent uncertainty of such estimates. The agency, unlike Recovery.gov, didn’t depend just on reports filed by recipients of stimulus funds to make its calculations, because the reports don’t provide a complete picture of the law’s impact on jobs. For one thing, the reports measure only jobs created or saved by employers who receive stimulus money directly or their immediate subcontractors, but not lower-level contractors. In addition, the fact that grant recipients and their workers have money in their pockets means they’ll spend some of it on products and services, creating more jobs. And the reports, CBO notes, only cover some of ARRA’s spending; the effects of tax cuts, transfers to individuals (such as unemployment payments) and other elements of the stimulus package aren’t measured on Recovery.gov....

http://www.factcheck.org/2009/12/sti...-re-revisited/

Or one only need to read about the numerous Republican governors and members of Congress who opposed the recovery act but waived the checks at events back home while claiming they (not the stimulus checks) created jobs.

Senate majority leader McConnell...took credit for the construction site at Blue Grass Army Depot in Madison County, Kentucky -- a project that was funded in large part by the Recovery Act.

House majority whip Cantor ...who has repeatedly claimed that the stimulus is "failing" to create jobs....appeared at a job fair in Midlothian, VA, to demonstrate how he is working on "long-term solutions that will put...Virginia workers back on the path to financial stability." But scores of jobs advertised at the jobs fair were created by the stimulus, and Chesterfield County, where the fair was being held, will receive more than $38 million in stimulus funding over the next two years.

Gov. Bobby Jindal said if he was still a member of Congress he would've voted against the stimulus, calling it the "stimulus that has not stimulated." Yet the very next day, he appeared with constituents in Louisiana to present a jumbo-sized check of federal grant money authorized under the Recovery Act to residents of Vernon Parish. He later toured the state in a "Louisiana Working" tour, handing out millions of dollars of stimulus money while simultaneously attacking "Washington Spending."

The list is endless.

The massive fantasy and widespread fraud exists only in your non-partisan () mind and on "reliable, objective, non-partisan" (double ) or more appropriately called "tin foil hatter" sites like WashigtonWatch.

[richlevy]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

Which plan was that?

Exactly.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by richlevy

Exactly.

The Republickins are no better if they can't produce a plan, but they have pretty much been locked out of the process.

[richlevy]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

The Republickins are no better if they can't produce a plan, but they have pretty much been locked themselves out of the process.

Fixed it for ya.

[classicman]

Just asking here - you two go ahead and sling mud at each other all you want.... Who owns/runs factcheck?

Oh and this jobs created/saved is a bunch of crap - there is no way to eally account for jobs "saved".