Despite Vows, Stimulus Bill Has Some Pork

Magnetic-Levitation Rail Line, Battery Companies And Filipino Veterans All Make Out Well In Compromise Legislation

(Washingtonpost.com)  This story was written by Washington Post Staff Writers Dan Eggen and Ellen Nakashima.

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The compromise stimulus bill adopted by House and Senate negotiators this week is not free of spending that benefits specific communities, industries or groups, despite vows by President Obama that the legislation would be kept clear of pet projects, according to lawmakers, legislative aides and anti-tax groups.

The deal provides $8 billion for high-speed rail projects, for example, including money that could benefit a controversial proposal for a magnetic-levitation rail line between Disneyland, in California, and Las Vegas, a project favored by Senate Majority leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. The 311-mph train could make the trip from Sin City to Tomorrowland in less than two hours, according to backers.

A new alliance of battery companies won $2 billion in grants and loans in the stimulus package to jump-start the domestic lithium ion industry. Filipino veterans, most of whom do not live in the United States, will get $200 million in long-awaited compensation for service in World War II.

The nation's small shipyards also made out well, with $100 million in grant money -- a tenfold increase in funding from last year, when the federal Maritime Administration launched the program to benefit yards in places such as Ketchikan, Alaska, and Bayou La Batre, Ala.

None of the items in the sprawling $789 billion package are traditional earmarks -- funding for a project inserted by a lawmaker bypassing the normal budgeting process -- according to the White House and Democratic leaders. Republicans also killed or reduced a number of projects they considered objectionable, such as $200 million to re-sod the Mall in Washington and money for a new Coast Guard polar icebreaker.

But many Republicans, anti-tax advocates and other critics argue that the final version of the bill is still larded with wasteful spending and dubious initiatives that will do little to create jobs or spur financial markets. The legislation's sheer size and complexity set off a lobbying spectacle over the past few weeks, as diverse interests including pharmaceutical companies, cement firms and manufacturers of energy-saving light bulbs converged on Washington to elbow for their share.

"You have a moving vehicle, and people are trying to pile on and influence it in any way they can," said David Merritt, a health policy adviser to the presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who is now a project director with Newt Gingrich's Center for Health Transformation.

Stimulus advocates say the GOP complaints are overheated and generally focus on projects that Republicans dislike for ideological reasons. Chad Stone, chief economist at the liberal-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, defended the bill. "The overwhelming bulk of what is in the package is effective and well-designed stimulus," he said.

Money for high-speed rail ballooned during the stimulus debate, from nothing in the House bill to $2 billion in the Senate version and finally $8 billion in the conference report, which was put together by Reid and other Democratic leaders.

Reid spokesman Jon Summers said in a statement that the transportation secretary "will have complete flexibility as to which program he uses to allocate the funds," but he acknowledged that "the proposed Los Angeles-Las Vegas rail project would be eligible." Summers said the rail funding "was a major priority for President Obama, and Sen. Reid as a conferee supported it."

One of the biggest targets of GOP complaints was a measure in the Senate version of the bill that did not name a recipient but would have provided $2 billion for "one or more near zero emissions power plant(s)." Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and other Republicans say the provision was clearly directed at reviving the FutureGen Alliance project, a proposed "clean coal" plant in Illinois.

Coburn called the item the "largest earmark in American history," but in the end he was able to claim only a partial victory, as the conference bill still contains $1 billion that could be spent on FutureGen.

Another $800 million is set aside for other carbon-capture projects, and a clause allows the money to go to projects that use petroleum coke instead of coal. That would probably benefit a company called Hydrogen Energy, which is jointly owned by British Petroleum and the multinational mining company Rio Tinto and has plans to build a power plant in California.

A provision introduced by freshman Rep. Larry Kissell (D-N.C.), a former textile industry employee, will require the Transportation Security Administration to purchase uniforms manufactured in the United States; most TSA clothing is currently assembled in Mexico and Honduras from U.S.-made fabric. The cost of the requirement is unclear -- the agency spends about $3 million on 12,000 new uniforms each year -- but labor and trade groups argue that it will create 21,000 U.S. jobs.

"We view this as a very inexpensive way to create jobs and also stabilize jobs in place," said Lloyd Wood of the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition.

Staff writers Kimberly Kindy and Steven Mufson contributed to this report

[targaray-2009]

" If Republican politicians are so deeply opposed to President Obama''s economic recovery plan, they should refuse to take the money... If cutting taxes for the rich and for big corporations and promoting foreign trade alone could energize the economy, we wouldn''t be in this mess. But maybe S.C. Gov. Sanford is right. Let''s keep our federal money -- give it to states where the governors will actually put it to good use. "

- Paul Begala, CNN Contributor

[themasses09]

BUSH HATERS PLEASE! Hes gone, quite whining about his record as president. You sound like idiots. Thats like whining about Nixon. He is gone! As for the stimulis, at least the pork is getting trimmed. Sen. Reid Vegas will never be a DisneyLand. Connecting the two is moronic. Tell the mob to **** off you won''''''''t take bribes to increase their take. Unless you are getting a cut? Hmmm FBI are you listening?

Posted by excelsior9

Isn''''t that like saying the robber has left your home so just shut up about all of your possessions he took with him when he left. Those who forget or actually CHOOSE to forget historical mistakes and misdeeds are destined to repeat them again and again.


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Posted by steinbass56 at

Apples and oranges.
Grow up and adapt.

[themasses09]

BUSH HATERS PLEASE! Hes gone, quite whining about his record as president. You sound like idiots. Thats like whining about Nixon. He is gone! As for the stimulis, at least the pork is getting trimmed. Sen. Reid Vegas will never be a DisneyLand. Connecting the two is moronic. Tell the mob to **** off you won''''''''t take bribes to increase their take. Unless you are getting a cut? Hmmm FBI are you listening?

Posted by excelsior9

Isn''''t that like saying the robber has left your home so just shut up about all of your possessions he took with him when he left. Those who forget or actually CHOOSE to forget historical mistakes and misdeeds are destined to repeat them again and again.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by steinbass56 at

Apples and oranges.
Grow up and adapt.

[demwatcher]

CBS News and the Washington Post describe BILLIONS of dollars in pork as some? Even MILLIONS is too much.

The sad thing is, the Liberals will drink that kool aid too.

[steinbass56]

BUSH HATERS PLEASE! Hes gone, quite whining about his record as president. You sound like idiots. Thats like whining about Nixon. He is gone! As for the stimulis, at least the pork is getting trimmed. Sen. Reid Vegas will never be a DisneyLand. Connecting the two is moronic. Tell the mob to **** off you won''''t take bribes to increase their take. Unless you are getting a cut? Hmmm FBI are you listening?

Posted by excelsior9

Isn''t that like saying the robber has left your home so just shut up about all of your possessions he took with him when he left. Those who forget or actually CHOOSE to forget historical mistakes and misdeeds are destined to repeat them again and again.

[oldboto69er]

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

[oldboto69er]

It is sad to see these pigs take our hard earned money.......IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature''s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

[tucano2]

SOME PORK ? Hey, it is ALL PORK ! And it is anti-American as it does NOT contain E-Verify. Instead it encourages Illegal Aliens to get to the head of the jobs line and elbow Americans into the gutter in the process. SHAME ON THE SENATORS !

[strangeworld]

"To American families, inflation is a destroyer of savings, a killer of wealth, a crusher of confidence."

Especially if you lie about it''s existence like the GOP did for the last eight years. The formula by which the cost of living has changed a lot since 1980, with politicians taking out things like food costs and fuel costs. Did it seem to you that you couldn''t get ahead during the bush years, even if you got your 3% cost of living raise...that''s because the government reported 3% inflation when in actuality it was floating between 7-10% if we used the formula from 1980. When the bush administration reported low inflation, it allowed business to give raises that did not keep up with inflation, thus giving most Americans a 4% net pay decrease each year. Maybe that''s why you can''t make your bills.

[graciedog3]

It really amazes me to now see the objections to the high speed rail moneys. Republicans say it is "pork." My Goodness people, this has been on the American agenda for forty years or more, and it is vciewed as the one of the major keys to cutting the emission of "greenhouse gasses." It is also believed to be the only realistic way to prevent total "gridock" in the Boston--NYC--Washington Corridor
I really, really wish that people (of whatever party)would put on their "thinking caps" instead of falling prey to the same old unthinking partisan shibboleths.

[bm6005]

I have a hard time believing that funding a high speed train is pork. It will create development jobs, it is more energy efficient and as a country we sorely need to return to trains for our larger cross country freight requirements. As for PORK in general, the line item veto would save a lot of BS, excuses and expedite the typical snail''s pace of CONgress!!

[crater7]

DID YOU HEAR THAT? WAS THAT G.W. BUSH SAYING THAT IF YOU DON''T PASS MY STIMULUS BILL WITH ALL THOSE "TINY LITTLE PORK" 300 BILLION SPENDING PET PROJECTS, THE SKY WILL FALL?

NO ! NO ! THAT''S "G.W. OBAMA".

IMIGINE THAT THE MORE THINGS "CHANGE" IN WASHINGTON, THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME.

SURPRISE, SURPRISE, AMERICA......

[txlakeside]

Repubs offered as an alternative stimulus plan constant whining, crying and repeated denial of the past 8 years of being in control as having anthing to do with the meltdown. Then they stuck thier heads up each others butts and hid for the rest of the day!

[cusefan21]

Yep i saw way to much wasteful spending in it also what a shame my grandkids will be paying for this

[endrepubs]

But not as much as the PORK MAN himself GW Bush. GW Bush has gone down as the 5 trillion dollar man. How''s that Steve Austin?

[acetracy]

Where was the outrage when trillions were spent on 2 useless wars, and a Homeland Security that still can loose computers and databases?

Building a speed rail, a non-poluting power plant, manufacturing lithium batteries IS NOT PORK!! China just built a speed train from Shanghai to Beijing. When was the last train built in this country? 30 years ago it took 3 hours by train to get from Paris to Brussels. Today it is One Hour!!

The whole water system of south west USA was built with Federal money. Do you see Republicans in Arizona complaining about Fed subsidies for the pool water?

Asking the Feds to buy uniforms made in the USA is PORK? For some reason the MSM is in overdrive to beat down the values of this stimulus bill. Why is the MSM still giving the disgraced GOP so much air time? My God, they got us into this mess in the first place.

[acetracy]

Where was the outrage when trillions were spent on 2 useless wars, and a Homeland Security that still can loose computers and databases?

Building a speed rail, a non-poluting power plant, manufacturing lithium batteries IS NOT PORK!! China just built a speed train from Shanghai to Beijing. When was the last train built in this country? 30 years ago it took 3 hours by train to get from Paris to Brussels. Today it is One Hour!!

The whole water system of south west USA was built with Federal money. Do you see Republicans in Arizona complaining about Fed subsidies for the pool water?

Asking the Feds to buy uniforms made in the USA is PORK? For some reason the MSM is in overdrive to beat down the values of this stimulus bill. Why is the MSM still giving the disgraced GOP so much air time? My God, they got us into this mess in the first place.

[sick_of_it]

Our huge overgrown government that is run by large corporations and lobbyist is the big problem here, and has been for a VERY long time(way before Obama and Bush). All I hear is the bantering of Democrats verses Republicans pointing fingers at each other. This is exactly how our gov. wants it. As long as this continues then the people will never unite and take back control over our government! Face it people, it doesn''t matter if we have a republican or democratic run government, their bottom line is greed and power. The winners are the ones who hide it the best. We need a serious overhaul to our political system and government with the AMERICAN people having more say and control in it.

[tas088]

It would be nice if CBS got its facts straight before calling anything ''Pork". Example: the funds for Philipeano (sp) expenditure had previously been approved. Adding it to the stimulus was a means of expiditing things. It was not a part of the stimulus bill. Check your facts CBS...

[reimer211]

Yeah! Stand aside Republicans, since you don''t care to work for the greater good of the country but instead choose to be obstructionist A**holes more interested in watching Obama fail so you can retain your remaining Senate and House seats. Thank God we can get it done without your sorry *sses!