While many Americans are tightening their belts this spring, Congress has gone on a mad spending spree! In addition to the so-called “stimulus” passed just over two weeks ago, the Senate is now considering the pork-laden 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act. This bill will cost taxpayers $410 billion and represents an eight percent increase from 2008 levels. Combined with the “stimulus” package, total expenditures for some agencies represent an 80 percent increase in spending for fiscal 2009.
Even worse, the mammoth bill is fattened with pork, including such outrageous items as $1.9 million for the Pleasure Beach water taxi in Connecticut, the “water taxi to nowhere”; $1.8 million to conduct research in Iowa on “swine odor and manure management”; and $380,000 for the construction of a recreation and fairground area in Kotzebue, Alaska.
Instead of recognizing the fiscal reality of a projected $1.75 trillion deficit, Congress is intent on saddling you, your children, and grandchildren with enormous debt – all in a self-serving attempt to cater to the special interests and “buy” votes back home!
Your help is needed today to call on Congress to reject this overstuffed spending package! The Senate is scheduled to vote on the Omnibus Appropriations Act later this week.
Related Reading:
The House and Senate Explained: The People's Guide to CongressExplains the traditions surrounding Congressional protocol, how the chambers are laid out, what goes on on a daily and weekly basis, and how a bill becomes law or gets rejected, and includes a chapter on accessing political information on the Internet.
The Upper House: A Journey behind the Closed Doors of the U.S. SenateThey come to Washington for varied and complex reasons—driven perhaps by some deep emotional commitment to an issue, or believing that their time in Congress can make their dream of the presidency a reality. No matter what their motivation or particular route, freshmen have three traits in common: they will be members of one of the most powerful deliberative bodies on the planet; they will have far less leverage and influence than they might have imagined; and finally, none of them—not even the most experienced political hand—will have any idea exactly what will take to succeed as a United States Senator.
In The Upper House, political analyst Terrence Samuel journeys inside the legislative arm of the government to discover what makes a modern senator. He gets to the heart of the Senate and follows the people—Harry Reid, Jim Webb, Amy Klobuchar, Jon Tester, Chuck Schumer, Bob Corker—and the institution through displays of dazzling power, bewildering helplessness, and sacred traditions both ancient and modern.
