About the hold-up in the Sandy relief bill/pork-fest
Liberals’ new favorite Republican is Chris Christie, the New Jersey governor who this week slammed House Republicans for delaying action on a bill with aid for those affected by Hurricane Sandy. (They’ll be back to hating him the next time he goes on an anti-union rant or some such.) As I’ve said before, the real problem lies with those who lard up such bills with extra spending because they know those pet projects have a better chance of passing when attached to such an urgent measure.
Apparently that can be clear even to a politician in the storm-ravaged area, as long as that politician is not a moderate Republican running for re-election in a blue state. From Politicker.com:
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who previously declined to slam House Speaker John Boehner over Congress’ stalled Hurricane Sandy aid, took his argument to the next level this morning and suggested federal lawmakers are partially to blame for the delay in the vote on the package because they insert “things that are totally extraneous” into bills such as this. Although Mr. Bloomberg didn’t specify the extraneous problem items, the legislation has been criticized by Republicans like Rep. Paul Ryan for being “packed with funding for unrelated items, such as commercial fisheries in American Samoa and roof repair of museums in Washington, D.C.”
“There’s this ‘Christmas Tree effect’ where legislators put in their favorite bills and tack them onto something. The [Obama] administration does that, that’s why you have an omnibus bill — to force everybody to vote for things that would never stand up in the light of day if they were individual,” Mr. Bloomberg said on his weekly radio show with John Gambling. “I’m sympathetic. Yelling and screaming at [Mr. Boehner] is just not my style. It may be effective, it may not be. Everybody’s got to make their own decisions. I think the legislative leaders who criticize and those in the Legislature should stop and think, they do exactly the same thing in terms of ladling on things that are totally extraneous but it’s the only way they get them through.”
Exactly. Those who help wreck the legislative process shouldn’t complain when they find the legislative process is a wreck.
– By Kyle Wingfield
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
686 comments Add your comment
td
January 4th, 2013
10:49 pm
Aesop’s Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 4th, 2013
10:35 pm
td – I hear ya, I hand load my .44 magnums because the factory loads don’t give me the Dirty Harry kick I’m looking for.
I had the chance several years ago to buy the equipment and learn and I turned down the offer. Bad mistake on my part. I still have about 10 boxes 320 grain hallow points but then it is back to the 240 or 180 grains.
Hillbilly D
January 4th, 2013
10:53 pm
josef
Time for me to get out of here. Enjoyed the talk. This place has gotten about like the other place; Kyle is trying to ride heard on it, with mixed results, so far. Personally, I think it’s hopeless but that’s just cynical ol’ me.
Tell Brosephus, I said, Roll Tide.
Hillbilly D
January 4th, 2013
10:54 pm
Ride herd even.
fair and balanced
January 4th, 2013
11:06 pm
Top propounder of the Sandy pork story is Darrell Issa making a big splash about it on Fox News Problem is old Darrell has a serious pork and conflict of interest problem with his own businesses getting millions of dollars in benefits from federal pork. Amy idea why Fox did not ask him about that or Kyle do a story on Issa’s pork problem?
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/us/politics/15issa.html?hpw=&pagewanted=all&_r=0
josef
January 4th, 2013
11:14 pm
Hillbilly
Will do to Brosephus…Enjoyed the visit as well, as always…
Reality
January 5th, 2013
12:27 am
Do you really think it is only “liberals” that load up bills with extra pork barrel spending?????
John McClellan
January 5th, 2013
2:02 am
Who, exactly – which members of Congress, added these un-related sending items to this bill? I’d like to see a list!
Aynie Sue
January 5th, 2013
6:35 am
The farcical Republican –led House of Representatives has voted 30+ times on futile attempts to repeal Obamacare, but cannot find time to help disaster victims in our most prosperous and popular states.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
January 5th, 2013
7:00 am
“but cannot find time to help disaster victims in our most prosperous and popular states.”
Guess you missed the vote in Congress for the so-called “emergency” funds in your haste to post a rant, Aynie Sue.
Pay attention so you won’t look as stupid next time.
Skip
January 5th, 2013
8:16 am
So this is where chickenhawks roost at night.
Lil' Barry Bailout - OBAMAPHONE!!!
January 5th, 2013
8:20 am
Aynie Sue
6:35 am
———————–
Never let the facts get in the way of the Idiotarian talking points you’ve seen on the progtard websites.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
January 5th, 2013
8:33 am
Oh, and Aynie Sue?
Since when was New Jersey ever considered “popular”?
Skip
January 5th, 2013
8:43 am
A guy using Obamaphone talks about facts. Only in the con world.
Lil' Barry Bailout - OBAMAPHONE!!!
January 5th, 2013
8:48 am
Some of you progs have had trouble understanding my use of the term “liberal fascist” and so I thought I would provide a helpful example…
——————–
NEW HAMPSHIRE LEGISLATOR: WE NEED TO ‘RESTRICT FREEDOMS’ OF CONSERVATIVES
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/01/02/New-Hampshire-Legislator-We-Need-to-Restrict-Freedoms-of-Conservatives
carlosgvv
January 5th, 2013
9:02 am
Barry
Look up the word “liberal” in the dictionary.
Then look up “fascist”
You cannot be both.
So, stop using the term “liberal fascist” here unless you just enjoy being stupid.
@@
January 5th, 2013
9:05 am
I would be happy to leave, Kyle….
but it won’t stop the namejacker at 3:03 a.m.
He/she wants you to shut this place down. Don’t do it. He/she can be easily ignored.
Lil' Barry Bailout - OBAMAPHONE!!!
January 5th, 2013
9:08 am
Sorry, carlos, but you know exactly what I mean and I suspect it hits a little too close to home for you.
So, stop reading my posts here if it threatens your bubble.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 5th, 2013
9:11 am
Look up the word “liberal” in the dictionary.
Then look up “fascist”
You cannot be both.
Look up the term “man” and then look up the term “woman,” you can’t be both.
But that doesn’t stop you liberals from trying like all hell.
So, technically, Lil Bar is correct in his terminology.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 5th, 2013
9:14 am
The jacker at 3:03, in the freaking morning, says more about itself than it says about @@.
Big Daddy
January 5th, 2013
9:17 am
Kyle
All your favorites that I mentioned are not dissapointing.
Big Daddy
January 5th, 2013
9:19 am
Aesop
@ 9:14 – it sure does
But shows does your 9:11
Why did you not mention that about yourself?
Big Daddy
January 5th, 2013
9:23 am
So not show, although it does show who you are
You regulars don’t let me down. I told Kyle you would not behave but don’t punish the rest. So far you are doing what you do.
Big Daddy
January 5th, 2013
9:29 am
Breitbart
Hahahahha
Wasn’t that one of the sites that was brainwashing their fans into thinking that the polling was incorrect because of their sampling and Romney was probably leading by a big margin?
Or maybe that was theblaze or wnd?
Either way, thanks for the laugh
Real Athens
January 5th, 2013
9:29 am
“However, as it turns out, the pork portions of the Senate bill were not earmarked to benefit Democratic members of the upper chamber of Congress. And you may be quite surprised to discover where that money is actually headed once the rich Senate legislation is passed by the House.
A review of the mark-up of the Senate bill reveals that all that extra, non-Sandy related cash is actually set to provide billions for “storm events that occurred in 2012 along the Gulf Coast and Atlantic Coast within the boundaries of the North Atlantic and Mississippi Valley divisions of the Corps that were affected by Hurricanes Sandy and Isaac.”
It’s being added by the Southern Red States. There’s your “red state leadership” Tom Price.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2013/01/03/pork-holding-up-senate-sandy-relief-bill-funneled-into-the-troughs-of-gop-deficit-hawks-you-betcha/
“Apparently, these deficit hawks only spread their wings when they are flying in full public view. But when nobody is looking? Let the pork flow. Can you spell h-y-p-o-c-r-i-t-e?”
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 5th, 2013
9:29 am
What, pray tell, is the problem with my 9:11?
Lil' Barry Bailout - OBAMAPHONE!!!
January 5th, 2013
9:33 am
Real Athens
9:29 am
—————————-
Note that the Democrat Senate passed the pork bill and the Republican House did not.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 5th, 2013
9:46 am
Temperatures in China have plunged to their lowest in almost three decades, cold enough to freeze coastal waters and trap 1,000 ships in ice, official media said at the weekend.
And here I was thinking that it was supposed to get warmer, oh yeah, no I wasn’t.
JamVet
January 5th, 2013
9:53 am
I would be happy to leave, Kyle….
Says the blogger who told the forum next door REPEATEDLY that she would and then………………… never did.
Until she got sent packing by the host for going WAY over the line for writing venomous things about another blogger’s family.
Too funny.
And zero cred.
But hey, I wouldn’t want to be a liberal fascist (LOL at Republispeak) , so spew on, you globally cooled fools and crazy diamonds!
Rafe Hollister preparing for an Obamanist America
January 5th, 2013
10:01 am
Aesop
If you think history started the day you were born and where you live is the only place on earth, then you might be a liberal and believe in global warming.
Big Daddy
January 5th, 2013
10:04 am
Note the Republican House is just splitting up this package into 3 bills. The other 2 will be voted on in two weeks.
This was just a ploy to pretend not to want the pork, but close to the same amount will be approved once it is all said and done.
Someone else told you people this yesterday but it didn’t fit the narrative so it was ignored.
mountain man
January 5th, 2013
10:04 am
“And here I was thinking that it was supposed to get warmer, oh yeah, no I wasn’t.”
No, global warming makes it colder. That is when temperatures didn’t go up they started calling it global climate change. If it gets warmer, that is caused by global climate change. If it gets colder, that is caused by global climate change. If there are more hurricanes, that is becuase of global climate change. If there are less hurricanes, that is because of global climate change. No matter what the effect, the cause is global climate change. See how easy it is to prove something is real if ALL effects are predicted by it?
Lil' Barry Bailout - OBAMAPHONE!!!
January 5th, 2013
10:05 am
Temperatures in China have plunged to their lowest in almost three decades
——————–
Well of course! Unlike us, they’re building all manner of “green” energy generation.
@@
January 5th, 2013
10:07 am
AmVet:
Until she got sent packing by the host for going WAY over the line for writing venomous things about another blogger’s family.
While acting as a decoy for some old fella being attacked by said blogger. My “attack” (?seriously?) was aimed at the blogger, not his/her family. I merely asked him/her a question.
I’m outta here.
mountain man
January 5th, 2013
10:12 am
“Well of course! Unlike us, they’re building all manner of “green” energy generation.”
And they lead the world in Greenhouse gas emissions. Yet the Kyoto agreement wanted us to cut our emissions while allowing them to emit all they wanted.
JamVet
January 5th, 2013
10:13 am
I’m outta here.
For good? (schnort)
You globally cooled idiots do crack me up.
Stay ignorant, my friends…
MarkV
January 5th, 2013
10:14 am
mountain man @ 10:04 am
See how easy it is to show you do not know what you are talking about?
JamVet
January 5th, 2013
10:17 am
Mark, mountain dude using the word *prove* pretty much says it all…
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 5th, 2013
10:21 am
mm – Yep, it’s kinda like how the concept of “Bush” can be used to explain the rotten economy the libs have created and just about anything else they screw up.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 5th, 2013
10:23 am
3 personal attacks in a row so far, what’s the over/ under on this one?
I’m going with ten before noon.
Lil' Barry Bailout - OBAMAPHONE!!!
January 5th, 2013
10:24 am
Progs have a special coin they use to decide who to blame for Obozo’s failures or anything bad that might happen. One side says “Climate Change” and the other side “Our President Bush”.
JamVet
January 5th, 2013
10:28 am
“I’m going with ten before noon.”
Yeah, and Romney in a landslide, right?!
LOL!
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
January 5th, 2013
10:29 am
That’s all these libs have – personal attacks.
They can’t help themselves, because trying to prove their points with facts is an exercise in futility. You can’t prove what doesn’t exist in reality.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 5th, 2013
10:30 am
A day without a personal attack is like a day without sunshine, apparently.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 5th, 2013
10:30 am
But then again, when you can’t argue the issues, what else do you have?
JamVet
January 5th, 2013
10:36 am
You globally cooled right wing fanatics are the greatest thing to ever happen to progressive, moderate and liberal causes.
Seriously.
And the more you stay stuck where you are, the greater the benefit.
Keep up the great work, boys!
And better luck in 2024…
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
January 5th, 2013
10:36 am
And a day without sunshine is another day of global cooling . . .
mountain man
January 5th, 2013
10:39 am
Let me be clear, I don’t know if global climate change is real or not. I am sure that man’s activities has an effect on the environment, we just don’t know how severe. What I have seen is an escalation of predictions of “dire consequences” if we don’t do something immediately. When the first predictions came out, we were hearing that there would be effects in “several hundred years”. Apparently, that did not get any attention, so now people talk about “tipping points” and dire consequences ten years down the road. Well, I am willing to wager my house that we will not see any major cities under water in ten years. Plus add it the fact that even if the United States cut their emissions back to 1990 levels, the Chinese and the Indians will continue to spew out greenhouse gases.
I am very much in favor of conserving energy, but more from an economic standpoint – saving energy makes long-term economic sense.
It is also telling that some of these “ecologically-minded” persons also oppose nuclear power, which creates energy WITHOUT creating any greenhouse gases.
Big Daddy
January 5th, 2013
10:42 am
You have to love it when name callers and those who have been banned or suspended from various AJC blogs crying about name calling…
Banned or suspended because their unwillingness or inability to act in a mature fashion.
Now they feign outrage… Oh the irony
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 5th, 2013
10:54 am
mm – Look at it this way
Ethanol mandates – produces more pollution, causes higher food prices and the stripping of forest land to grow more corn thus reducing the amount of CO2 scrubbing vegatation.
Energy saving light bulbs – emits ultraviolet radiation killing skin cells and causing cancer.
Electric vehicles – billions upon billions of dollars of tax dollars to subsidize something that no one wants and uses more energy to recharge it than just running a gasoline engine.
The War on Oil – greatly increased the cost of one of the most abundant fuels in the world, raising the cost of heating their homes, transportation, food and just about everything else for the poor and elderly.
I’ve got others.
Me, myself, I’d prefer if the libs would just leave it alone.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 5th, 2013
10:54 am
Before they kill all of us with their “help.”