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Stimulas Pork List

By Prometheus • on January 28, 2009

Based on data from multiple sources, here is what is in the Orwellian-named 647-page Amercian Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009:

From the Wall Street Journal

$1 billion for Amtrak, the federal railroad that hasn’t turned a profit in 40 years;
$2 billion for child-care subsidies;
$50 million for that great engine of job creation, the National Endowment for the Arts;
$400 million for global-warming research and another $2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects.
$650 million to pay for digital TV conversion coupons;
$335 million for STD prevention
$82,7 billion for refundable tax credits
$81 billion to Medicaid
$20 billion for food stamps
$7.5 billion for public housing
$30.3 billion for COBRA extensions
$36 billion for unemployment insurance
$42, in additional SSI payments
$2,5 billion in wlefare cash payments
$1 billion in Nutrition programs
$200 million for re-sodding the 700-acre National Mall
$4 million for “neighborhood stabilization”
$600 million for government cars

How about some other details:

$30 billion, or less than 5% of the spending in the bill, is for fixing bridges or other highway projects
$40 billion for broadband and electric grid development, airports and clean water projects
Add the roughly $20 billion for business tax cuts, and by our estimate only $90 billion out of $825 billion, or about 12 cents of every $1, is for something that can plausibly be considered a growth stimulus
only 52% of the of the spending in the ‘stimulus bill’ can even be spent by the end of FY’10. Well short of the 75% benchmark set by President Obama.

Here are some comments from the Heritage Foundation:

After Congress appropriates the FY’09 omnibus bill, they may have spent over $1.4 Trillion in less than one month!
The current “stimulus bill” will be the LARGEST SPENDING BILL EVER enacted by Congress, making the New Deal look small, accounting for inflation.
The “Stimulus” Bills Your Family – $825 Billion is equivalent to borrowing #10,520 from every family in America. This money has to be paid back.