From Teacher’s Point of View

“storm events that occurred in 2012 along the Gulf Coast and Atlantic Coast within the boundaries of the North Atlantic and Mississippi Valley divisions of the Corps that were affected by Hurricanes Sandy and Isaac.”

This obviously includes money for reparations that do not fall under “Sandy Relief”. This was done to get red state Republican senators from Alabama, Texas and Mississippi on board This money is basically being used to buy votes. While it may only be a small percentage of the bill, it is still wrong, and should not be included.

Matt Mayer of Heritage Foundation reported that the estimate of insured losses from Sandy comes in around $20 billion, only one-third the request. The relief bill provides some $28 billion for future “disaster-mitigation” projects — spending that at the least is not a middle-of-the-night emergency.

Again, I’m not saying that it is not a good idea to spend this money. However, to call it “Sandy Relief” is incredibly misleading. If you read the whole thing closely, you’ll see the words “future” “research” and “prepare” pop up often. This indicates it’s not directly used to repair Sandy damage.

I’m not claiming that the money will not be needed and beneficial. What I am saying is that the amount is bloated to include money that is not needed for only emergency reparation, as the bill title suggests. It includes a lot of money that should be voted on in separate votes. I think they inflated a lot of the amounts.

This happens far too often in politics. There was simply too much money in this request that is not emergency “Sandy Relief” funding. Bloomberg also blasted the original bill citing the “Christmas Tree Effect” of including funding in bills that is nod directly for Sandy Relief. How much is “Pork” is probably left up to interpretation, but NONE of it should be pork.

Here are some examples I found on another site of the billions slated to go other than those effected in New Jersey and Staten Island I looked through your link Diane, to verify them. I found references to all. However, I think the first $28 billion reference is up to interpretation. There’s gray area as to how much is really “Sandy Relief” and how much is future disaster mitigation, which in my opinion is not “Sandy Relief”, though it may still be responsible spending:

$28 billion for future “disaster-mitigation” projects.
$100 million for the repair of all 265 Head Start centers around the country.
$8 million (+) to buy cars and equipment for the Homeland Security and Justice departments.
$150 million for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to dole out to fisheries in Alaska.
$2 million for the Smithsonian Institution to repair museum roofs in Washington, D.C.
$207 million for the VA Manhattan Medical Center.
$41 million to fix up eight military bases along the storm’s path, including Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
$4 million for repairs at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
$3.3 million for the Plum Island Animal Disease Center of New York.
$1.1 million to repair national cemeteries.

Honestly, I disagree with you John. Not even 8% of of a bill should be unrelated pork. Everything in a “Sandy Relief” bill should be directly related to Sandy relief. That’s how an open and transparent government should operate.