How About That

A few days ago, the House of Representatives passed a bill called the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Bill for FY2007. It's got all sorts of wonderful new expendatures on it. For instance, we'll soon be giving 24 million dollars to aid production losses incurred by sugarbeet producers. All you sugarbeet fans are sighing in relief right now, aren't you? Thought so.

Before I get to what I really want to talk about in regard to this thing, let's do some math.


$24 million for funding for sugar beets.

$3 million for funding for sugar cane (goes to one Hawaiian co-op).

$20 million for insect infestation damage reimbursements in Nevada, Idaho, and Utah.

$2.1 billion for crop production losses.

$1.5 billion for livestock production losses.

$100 million for Dairy Production Losses.

$13 million for Ewe Lamb Replacement and Retention Program.

$32 million for Livestock Indemnity Program.

$40 million for the Tree Assistance Program.

$100 million for Small Agricultural Dependent Businesses.

$6 million for North Dakota flooded crop land.

$35 million for emergency conservation program.

$50 million for the emergency watershed program.

$115 million for the conservation security program.

$18 million for drought assistance in upper Great Plains/South West.

Provision that extends the availability by a year $3.5 million in funding for guided tours of the Capitol. Also a provision allows transfer of funds from holiday ornament sales in the Senate gift shop.

$165.9 million for fisheries disaster relief, funded through NOAA (including $60.4 million for salmon fisheries in the Klamath Basin region).

$12 million for forest service money (requested by the president in the non-emergency FY2008 budget).

$425 million for education grants for rural areas – (Secure Rural Schools program).

$640 million for LIHEAP.

$25 million for asbestos abatement at the Capitol Power Plant.

$388.9 million for funding for backlog of old Department of Transportation projects.

$22.8 million for geothermal research and development.

$500 million for wildland fire management.

$13 million for mine safety technology research.

$31 million for one month extension of Milk Income Loss Contract program (MILC)

$50 million for fisheries disaster mitigation fund.

$100 million for security at the Presidential Candidate Nominating Conventions

$2 million for the University of Vermont

Do you want to know what that adds up to? Here it is: 18.523 billion dollars.

Oh yeah, and they want the troops out by the end of March next year. This passed by a slim margin in the House. The Senate recently voted down an amendment to get rid of the whole "we're leaving Iraq in a year" part, 50-48. Looks like President Bush will use his veto power for what I believe (correct me if I'm wrong here) is the very first time. Good on him. Pelosi went around seducing congressmen-and-women with these supplements so they'd be able to pass this retreat garbage and satisfy the CodePinkAnarchistMoveOn.orgKosKidz segment of the Left. Oops. Backfire. Looks like they're pissed off because they want funds completely cut off, and our soldiers home NOW, not a year from now. And you know what? I kind of agree with them. If all that's going to happen is we spend a year talking about leaving Iraq, and then actually packing up and coming home, the Democrats will have to answer for every American serviceman killed between now and then. Because there's just no damn reason to still be there if the end result one year from now is that, no matter the situation, we just leave.

Bad Idea.