Because President Barack Obama has called for a plan that will “immediately jumpstart the economy,” on Wednesday the House passed an $819 billion dollar stimulus bill, which, with interest, over the next ten years will exceed $1.1 trillion. The administration has claimed that the bill will produce 3 to 4 million jobs, which translates into $275,000 per job. In contrast, the average American worker makes $27,000 a year and pays $2,400 in federal income taxes. Someone is going to have to pay this bill. It will be a legacy we hand to our children and grandchildren.

Needless to say, the package which is well over 1,000 pages, has not been very closely read by very many, including the reporters who gloss this over with praise and talk about what it will do for their listeners.

What it will essentially do is to continue plunging them and their country in enormous, astonishing debt to finance many unnecessary pork barrel projects. In this economic trying times, it is difficult to imagine that the government would spend so wrecklessly.

Economic stimulus proposals should focus on job creation, small business tax relief and putting money back into the pockets of hard-working Americans.

In fact, only approximately 27 percent of the stimulus bill is dedicated toward lowering federal taxes—and less than 3 percent is devoted to tax incentives for private sector.

In a Fox News interview last week, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said, "If you look at the bill that passed the Ways and Means Committee yesterday, for every dollar that is spent to help small businesses, $4 is being spent to help upkeep the grass on the lawns of Washington."

The millions earmarked for upkeep of the National Mall has been taken out of the bill, but, still, supporters of this bill have described the legislation as a transportation and infrastructure investment package, which it isn't as the bill only includes $30 billion – a mere 3 percent of the funding – toward “shovel ready” road and highway spending. Similarly, only $4.5 billion is allocated for the Corps of Engineers for improved flood protection and navigation.

Instead, H.R. 1 provides funding for 32 new programs totaling $137 billion or 38 percent of all discretionary spending in the bill. Seventeen of these new programs have never been considered by Congress, never gone through a process of scrutiny and evaluation and account for $123 billion or 34 percent of all discretionary spending in the bill.

How much is a billion? Most of us can't comprehend it. David M. Schwartz says, "If a billion kids made a human tower, they would stand up past the moon. If you sat down to count from one to one billion, you would be counting for 95 years. If you found a goldfish bowl large enough to hold a billion goldfish, it would be as big as a stadium."

H.R. 1, “The American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009”

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently estimated that only 7 percent of infrastructure money would make its way into the economy by the end of the year and only 38 percent would be spent by the end of the 2010 fiscal year.

Where is this money going to? A not exhaustive look at the 1,588 page legislation, H.R. 1, “The American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009” shows the bill is more payoffs and pork then stimulus. Many thanks to the website readthestimulus.org and its participating organizations.

Payoffs

To the “Green” Lobby

$600 Million To Buy New Cars For Government Workers (Page 89)
These cars would be “green” friendly cars – however very few gas pumps have the right gas to run these cars. The Federal government already spends $3.5 billion a year.

$10M for bike and walking trails (Page 65)

$200M for plug-in car stations (Page 31)

$400 million for NASA scientists to conduct climate change research (Page 22)

$800 million to clean up Superfund sites (Page 122)

$600 million for grants for diesel emission reduction (Page 119)

$650 million for “alternative energy technologies, energy efficiency enhancements and deferred maintenance at Federal facilities” (Page 119)

$1.5 billion for construction of “Green Schools” (Page 176)

To the Unions

$1 billion to the controversial Community Oriented Policing Services Cops Hiring Program

“$150 billion in new federal spending, a vast two-year investment that would more than double the Department of Education's current budget. The proposed emergency expenditures on nearly every realm of education, including school renovation, special education, Head Start and grants to needy college students” Sam Dillon, “Stimulus Plan Would Provide Flood of Aid to Education,” New York Times . January 27, 2009.

NOTE: Private and religious schools are excluded.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/education/28educ.html?_r=1

To the Abortion Industry

Representative Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) inserted in the original bill billions of dollars for family planning groups, including the abortion giant, Planned Parenthood. Pressure and public exposure from Congressional Republicans forced the Democrats to remove such funding from this bill. However the bill still provides billions in reforming the health care system and working towards nationalized health care – with little to no debate.

$2.7B in NIH grants which would be targeted to among other things embryonic stem cell experimentation. (Page 56)

Other Special Interests

$3 Billion for Prevention & Wellness Programs, Including $335 million for STD Education and Prevention -- Recent government expenditures in this area include a transgender beauty pageant in San Francisco that advertised available HIV testing and an event called “Got Love? – Flirt/Date/Score” that taught participants how “to flirt with greater finesse.”

$83 billion for the earned income credit for people who don't pay income tax.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123310466514522309.html

$246 million for Hollywood http://www.nationaljournal.com/congressdaily/cda_20090127_9337.php

$50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts (Page 122)

$75 million for smoking cessation (Page 148) . This contradicts the latest version of SCHIP that is funded largely by new taxes on cigarettes.

$4.19 billion open to ACORN. The Pelosi-Reid bill makes groups like ACORN eligible for a $4.19 billion pot of money for “neighborhood stabilization activities.”

MISCELLANEOUS PORK

Some of the biggest winners in the package are federal agencies:

$54 billion will go to federal programs that the Office of Management and Budget or the Government Accountability Office have already criticized as "ineffective" or unable to pass basic financial audits.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123310466514522309.html

$462 Million for Equipment, Construction, and Renovation of Facilities at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) (Page 137)

$150 Million for Repairs to Smithsonian Institution Facilities (Page 128)

$44 million to the Agricultural Research Service (Page 135)

$227 million for oversight of the pork barrel spending in the stimulus (Page 11)

$1 Billion for The Follow-Up To The 2010 Census (Page 49)

Discretion is given to governors and Mayors for how to spend a large chunk of the money. The U.S.

Conference of Mayors recently sent Congress a $96.6 billion wish list of "shovel-ready" projects which now could be funded by the stimulus. These projects include: “$1 million for annual sewer rehabilitation in Casper, WY; $6.1 million for corporate hangars, parking lots, and a business apron at the Fayetteville, AR airport; 28 projects with the term "stadium" in them; and 117 projects mentioning landscaping and/or beautification efforts. The taxpayers should be most teed off at the 20 golf courses included in the list.”

http://www.ntu.org/main/press.php?PressID=1083&org_name=NTU

Next the Senate will consider the stimulus bill and the are expected to add at least $50 billion more to the package.

Much of this information has been compiled by the Family Research Council and concerned members of Congress.