Despite Pledges, Package Has Some Pork
And the evidence? $8 billion for high-speed rail, $2 billion for the lithium ion battery industry, $200 million for Filipino vets, and $100 million for small shipyards. And if that all sounds oddly non-porcine to you, you’re right:
None of the items in the sprawling $789 billion package are traditional earmarks — funding for a project inserted by a lawmaker bypassing the normal budgeting process — according to the White House and Democratic leaders….But many Republicans, anti-tax advocates and other critics argue that the final version of the bill is still larded with wasteful spending and dubious initiatives that will do little to create jobs or spur financial markets.
In other words, this isn’t pork at all. It’s just normal spending — and after all, if you’re going to have a stimulus bill you have to spend the money on something, don’t you? All this is, it turns out, is spending Republicans don’t like.
So why does the Post collude with the GOP to pretend instead that this is pork, when their story admits just the opposite? It is a mystery.
