Pork-a-palooza… the Pork Menu keeps growing

By Prometheus • on February 6, 2009

A few days back we posted a list of the pork…er, stimulus in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.  Given more research, more conversation, and now the review of the bill in front of the Senate, we thought it might be a good idea to update the list.  The data comes from various sources (Wall Street Journal, Heritage Foundation, National Review, Politico, et.al.).  There may be some redundancy, in that the data is hard to synthesize.   But hey, it’s only money.

In no particular order:

  • $145 billion for “Making Work Pay” tax credits – a rebate check instead of a rate cut. Rebate checks are not effective stimulus, as we discovered last spring
  • $89 billion for Medicaid
  • $82.7 billion for refundable tax credits
  • $79 billion for State Fiscal Stabilization Fund
  • $36 billion for expanded unemployment benefits
  • $30.3 billion for COBRA extensions
  • $20 billion for food stamps
  • $15 billion for business-loss carry-backs
  • $15 billion for boosting Pell Grant college scholarships
  • $8 billion for innovative-technology loan-guarantee program
  • $7.6 billion for “rural community advancement programs”
  • $7.5 billion for public housing
  • $6.2 billion for the Weatherization Assistance Program
  • $6 billion on university building projects
  • $5.5 billion for making federal buildings “green”
  • $5.2 billion for community-development block grants and “neighborhood stabilization activities,” which ACORN is eligible to apply for
  • $4.5 billion for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
  • $4.5 billion for electricity grid
  • $4 billion total in additional funding Federal job-training programs—despite a long track record of failure
  • $3.4 billion for the State Energy Program
  • $2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects
  • $2,5 billion in welfare cash payments
  • $2 billion for renewable-energy research ($400 million for global-warming research)
  • $2 billion for federal child-care block grants
  • $2 billion for a “clean coal” power plant in Illinois
  • $1.7 billion for the National Park System
  • $1.5 billion for green-technology loan guarantees
  • $1.2 billion to a “youth” summer-jobs program—and increase the age-eligibility limit from 21 to 24
  • $1 billion in Nutrition programs
  • $1 billion for the manufacturing of advanced batteries
  • $1 billion for the Census Bureau
  • $1 billion for community-development block grants
  • $1 billion for Amtrak, the federal railroad that hasn’t turned a profit in 40 years
  • $800 million for constructing Federal Prison System buildings and facilities
  • $650 million for the U.S. Forest Service to remove fish passage barriers, forest improvement and watershed enhancement projects
  • $650 million for abandoned mine sites
  • $650 million to pay for digital TV conversion coupons; including $90 million to educate “vulnerable populations” that they need to go out and get their converter boxes
  • $600 million to convert the federal auto fleet to hybrids
  • $600 million for NOAA (carve-out for “climate modeling”)
  • $522 million for construction for the Bureau of Indian Affairs
  • $500 million for State and local fire stations
  • $500 million for wildland fire management
  • $500 million for improvements to National Institutes of Health facilities
  • $450 million for NASA, but it states that the agency must spend at least $200 million on “climate-research missions,” Is there global warming in space?
  • $448 million for constructing a new Homeland Security Department headquarters
  • $412 million for CDC headquarters
  • $400 million for the Social Security Administration’s new National Computer Center
  • $400 million for hybrid cars for state and local governments
  • $380 million to set up a rainy-day fund for a nutrition program that serves low-income women and children
  • $350 million for new computers for the Agriculture Department
  • $300 million for constructing Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) office buildings
  • $335 million for STD prevention
  • $325 million for Academic Achievement Awards
  • $300 million for grants to combat violence against women
  • $300 million for hybrid and electric cars for federal employees
  • $300 million for energy-efficient-appliance rebate programs
  • $307 million for constructing National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) office buildings
  • $200 million for workplace safety in USDA facilities
  • $200 million for public computer centers at community colleges and libraries
  • 100 million for lead paint hazard reduction
  • $275 million for flood prevention
  • $100 million to clean up sites used in early U.S. atomic energy program
  • $180 million for construction of Bureau of Land Management facilities
  • $110 million for construction for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
  • $100 million for constructing U.S. Marshall’s office buildings
  • $224 million for International Boundary and Water Commission – U.S. and Mexico
  • $198 million to design and furnish the DHS headquarters
  • $200 million for the U.S. Geological Survey to monitor earthquakes and volcanoes
  • $200 million for state and local electric-transport projects
  • $160 million for “volunteers” at the Corp. for National and Community Service
  • $150 million for agricultural-commodity purchases
  • $150 million for “producers of livestock, honeybees, and farm-raised fish”
  • $150 million for the Smithsonian
  • $100 million for reducing the danger of lead paint in homes
  • $88 million to help move the Public Health Service into a new building
  • $87 million for a polar ice breaking ship
  • $75 million for a super-computer for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
  • $70 million for programs to help people quit smoking
  • $65 million for watershed rehabilitation
  • $55 million for Historic Preservation Fund
  • $50.6 million for services for older blind individuals
  • $50 million for that great engine of job creation, the National Endowment for the Arts; a 30% increase in their current annual budget
  • $50 million for the National Cemetery Administration’s monument and memorial repairs
  • $50 million for NASA facilities that may have been harmed by natural disaster
  • $44 million for repairs at the Department of Agriculture
  • $42 million in additional SSI payments
  • $34 million to fix up the Commerce Department
  • $10 million for urban canals
  • $10 million to fight Mexican gunrunners
  • $1.5 million for a National Institute of Health/Institute of Medicine report to Congress

Please feel free to comment,add or point out errors.  The bad news is that, somehow we don’t think this is the complete list.

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Comments

By William Duane on February 11th, 2009 at 5:45 am

Yeah, all of that is just "crazy shit!" Wow, let's see what Exxon/Mobil and their Saudi buddies are going to do for us first, let's not be hasty. I'm sure they can handle the '34 million to fix up the Commerce Department, ' on their own.

By Don foreman on March 15th, 2009 at 2:27 pm

`Why is this Congress not thinking of its people & those who voted them in for help? One can almost see a criminal c onspiracy to feed their wallets. An emergency bill to stimulate turns out to stimuLESS. .We got hit on the jaw that spun us around so they can plant a knife in our backs. We must bailout those who caused the problem & then pay even more taxes after that. I am ashamed of our government. Like me, no money don't spend. So they bailout the big corporations but we can't buy from them,"DAH"!

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