In other words: A discussion of The Bush Administration
Your tax dollars at work
No shrimp left behindThe $388 billion bill is loaded with dollars going to special interests related to pumping out more food. Congress is maintaining agricultural subsidies amounting to $16.4 billion. Alaska is getting $1 million to market seafood. Mississippi is getting $269,000 to harvest seafood. Oregon is getting $443,000 to make salmon baby food. Maine is getting $236,000 to research blueberries.
Congress is so serious about animal control that it is giving $50,000 to Missouri to control wild hogs. New York is getting $199,000 to control Canada geese. It is so serious about plant protection that it is giving North Dakota $335,000 to shoo blackbirds off sunflowers. It is giving Alaska another $150,000 to protect the Anchorage botanical garden from hungry moose. The protection effort that drew the most sarcasm from Senator John McCain of Arizona was $1 million for a "Wild American Shrimp Initiative."
McCain asked, "Are American shrimp unruly and lacking initiative? Why does the US taxpayer need to fund this `No Shrimp Left Behind Act?' "
In flush times, this might be neither here nor there, and you could go back to stuffing your face. But the same budget that did all that, let alone provide $350,000 for "education programs" for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, is the same budget that will also slash eligibility for college Pell grants.
- rob 3:21 PM - [PermaLink] -
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