From Diane
I had a devil of a time finding the Sandy relief measure that the Senate passed on 28-Dec-2012. I believe it is the Senate amendment to HR1, “Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011.” *
Paul Ryan said the bill was “packed with funding for unrelated items, such as commercial fisheries in American Samoa and roof repair of museums in Washington, D.C.” The measure is for $60.4 Billion, the amount for fisheries is $150 million or 0.25% and the amount for the Smithsonian is $200 million (for salaries and expenses) or 0.33%, both together less than one percent of the total bill.
The only other items I found that might be called “pork” were for the US Army Corps of Engineers:
$50 million (0.083%) “… to expedite studies of flood and storm damage reduction related natural disasters” of which $35 million must be devoted to areas impacted by Hurricanes Sandy and Issac and $3.461 Billion (5.73%) “… for ‘Construction’ to rehabilitate, repair and construct U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects related to the consequences of natural disasters” of which $2.902 billion must go to areas affected by either Sandy or Issac.
Total: less than 6.5% of the amount appropriated.
@ mary mapes – you said, “most of it pork”
@Teacher’s POV – you said, “It was insanely pork riddled, with the majority not even going to Sandy relief.”
If this is the wrong bill (how many Sandy relief bills did the Senate pass on 28-Dec?), find the right one and quote the portions of the bill that prove your assertions. Assuming this is the correct bill, by my calculations, less than 7% hardly constitutes, “most” of anything. Of course, it IS a long document (100 pages) so I could have missed some stuff. Happy hunting!
Notes:
The words “American Samoa,” and museum do not appear in the amendments.
The only reference to “Smithsonian” is, in Title VII, OTHER RELATED AGENCY, Smithsonian Institution, Salaries and expenses, “For an additional amount for ‘Salaries and Expenses’ for necessary expenses related to the consequences of Hurricane Sandy, $2,000,000, to remain available until expended:”
The only reference to fisheries is Title II, Section 5, “$150,000,000, for necessary expenses related to fishery disasters as declared by the Secretary of Commerce in calendar year 2012:”
The only reference to Washington, DC, is in Title XI, GENERAL PROVISIONS THIS ACT, Vehicles use in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, Sec. 1106. (a) Report.- “… the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security shall identify and relocate any vehicles currently based at the Washington, D.C., headquarters of such agencies used for non-operational purposes to replace vehicles of those agencies damaged by Hurricane Sandy.”
The only reference to Alaska is, (c) Indian Tribal Government Requests.- (3) Definitions. DEFINITIONS.—”Section 102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122) is amended—(C) by inserting after paragraph (5) the following: (6) The term ‘Indian tribal government’ means the governing body of any Indian or Alaska Native tribe, band, nation, pueblo, village, or community that the Secretary of the Interior acknowledges to exist as an Indian tribe under the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 479a et seq.).”
*http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112hr1eas/pdf/BILLS-112hr1eas.pdf.
It’s a sad commentary on the Republicans that Paul Ryan continues to distort the truth tantamount to a lie in his statements to the public which are meant to mis-inform them. He should know full well that small necessary budgetary items like the Smithsonian ‘pork’ are usually added on to larger Bills. If Congress had to debate and vote on every penny, very little would get done.
Good work Diane! Thanks for posting this.
“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.
Here’s a great editorial from Forbes discussing the pork in the bill as it benefits republicans.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2013/01/03/pork-holding-up-senate-sandy-relief-bill-funneled-into-the-troughs-of-gop-deficit-hawks-you-betcha/