9,000 earmarks in the $410 billion omnibus spending bill
Gang tattoo removal, Maine lobster, La Raza and more!
By Michelle Malkin, February 23, 2009 [here]
You want earmarks? There are lots and lots and lots of earmarks in the $410 billion omnibus spending bill coming down the road. Not that any of the people who are going to vote for it will actually read it, of course. If they did, they couldn’t look into the camera and sanctimoniously declare that, uh, you know, “There are no earmarks.” …
The Modesto Bee reports… The bill will contain about 9,000 earmarks totaling $5 billion, congressional officials say. Many of the earmarks — loosely defined as local projects inserted by members of Congress — were inserted last year as the spending bills worked their way through various committees. …
Hill staffer Tom Jones is going through the omnibus spending bill with a fine-tooth comb, and Twittering his earmark findings, including:
* $200,000 for “Tattoo Removal Violence Prevention Outreach Program,” pg. 283;
* Maine lobster earmark in the omnibus, pg. 173;
* $5.8 million earmark for the “Ted Kennedy Institute for the Senate…for the planning and design of a building & an endowment,” pg. 232;
* National Council of La Raza, $473,000 earmark from Sens. Bingaman and Menendez, pg. 212.
also:
* $400K “to combat bullying”, pg. 325
* $215K to teach scientists how to communicate w/ press”, p246
* $10 million blue crab disaster assistance
* Totally Teen Zone, midnight basketball, etc.
* $2M for the promotion of astronomy in Hawaii, pg. 332
* Reid earmark makes Nevada eligible for the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund, p339