Did you know that Hillary is one of the BIGGEST pork barrel spenders?

Question

She, by the way, is one of the only candidates who refuses to identify her earmarks ... or "congressionally allocated funds."
Well let's take a look at why.
Between 2002 and 2006, Hillary earmarked more than $2.2 billion in spending bills.
In the 2008 defense spending bill, Hillary managed to attach 26 earmarks worth more than $148 million. This was more than any other Senator except her Democratic compadre Carl Levin ... who is the chairman of the Armed Services Committee.
How about a few local projects including $250,000 to the Seneca Knitting Mill, and $200,000 to the Buffalo Urban Arts Center. And I'm sure that is just the beginning.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=washingtonstory&sid=aXWIZU3DOyr4

Why is she the only candidate who refuses to identify her earmarks? What’s the big deal? How can someone who is one of the biggest contributors to the problem be part of the cure?

Kindly don’t bother with the typical “Look at the money we’re wasting in Iraq.” responses. Just answer the question if that’s why you’re here. Thanks.

Answer 1

As always, you have pointed out another item of interest in a well written question. The problem that will remain regardless of the answers you receive is a simple one. The majority of voters that will back Hillary just don't care what she has done in the past. They won't learn from the recent shift in congressional seats that neither party is competent. They cannot understand fiscal responsibility, (how dare one use words with more than 3 syllables). Hillary is the one that the ignorant, desperate, and the dependant on govt services crowds are convinced (easily duped morons) of as their only worthy candidate. The removal of Bush is iminent as he cannot seek another term. The Bush haters cannot understand that simple fact. The inaguration of Hillary however will be essentially the same as having GW still in. Maybe GW could have a sex change and qualify for 2 more terms. I am not a GW fan but do understand much of what he has done was done for a greater cause than most could comprehend.

Answer 2

It doesn't take much to figure out the answer to this. Reagan made the national debt go berserk. The so-called "pork barrel" spending is more often than not the grease that oils the wheels of the machinery of Washington. One party calls the other party's spending plans "pork barrel spending" while theirs is "judicious Congressional appropriation in the national interest". That's just political jockeying. Most of these programs are a miniscule drop in the bucket as far as the budget goes. Now, the ruinous spending habits of Ronald Reagan and Dubya have put us more in debt than all of the other Presidents COMBINED. Google it, if ye doubt the claim. The Republicans spend ungodly amounts of money on defense spending, most of which we don't need. Well, not if we were truly a republic instead of a military-industrial hegemony like we currently are now.

Answer 3

How the heck did the Federal debt almost double from $5.6 trillion to $10 trillion since George Bush took office with a Republican congress until recently? You can keep repeating it's the Democrats but you really should look at your party-that's the real problem. They have completely lost sight of fiscal conservatism. They want you to look to the Dems while they did the pork spending over 6 years....

The Republican pork barrel
By Jeff Jacoby, Globe Columnist | August 4, 2005

AT $286.4 BILLION, the highway bill just passed by Congress is the most expensive public works legislation in US history. In addition to funding the interstate highway system and other federal transportation programs, it sets a new record for pork-barrel spending, earmarking $24 billion for a staggering 6,376 pet projects, spread among virtually every congressional district in the land. The enormous bill -- 1,752 pages long -- wasn't made public until just before it was brought to a vote, and so, as The New York Times noted, ''it is safe to bet that none of the lawmakers, not even the main authors, had read the entire package."

Christmas didn't come early just for Alaska. Meander through the bill's endless line items and you find a remarkable variety of ''highway" projects, many of which have nothing to do with highways: Horse riding facilities in Virginia ($600,000). A snowmobile trail in Vermont ($5.9 million). Parking for New York's Harlem Hospital ($8 million). A bicycle and pedestrian trail in Tennessee ($532,000). A daycare center and park-and-ride facility in Illinois ($1.25 million). Dust control mitigation for rural Arkansas ($3 million). The National Packard Museum in Ohio ($2.75 million). A historical trolley project in Washington ($200,000). And on and on and on.

And no vetoes by Bush against the out of control Republican congress-ever.

Answer 4

First I agree this is a bi- partisan issue. But across the aisles no one does it better than a Clinton to bury the truth. The war in Iraq is expensive, She knows as Bill spent a few billion on his own ie: Operation Desert Fox for just one. You get two for one no matter how you slice it. History some seem determined to revisit .As the idea of being popular like a High School Prom is more important than details.

Thank you for the link. I am by no way surprised. They have numerous debts to be paid. Not to mention the foreign investors like the Chinese. I really believe the GOP is waiting until after the primary to sock it to her. There are so many details in B& W out there. Something will stick. Heck, she may just talk too much and do herself in (ie: the Media Matters expose). I understand they refuse to disclose tax details from last year. With Bill making a reported 40 mil speaking?? It's not required but standard.

Look for Mary Matlin on Thompson's team (as in Mrs. James Carville) she is slick and won't stop at bringing this all up as her man Fred gets thru. He has all that Watergate stuff behind him too as a young Senator he helped bust the tapes out in the open. If not before. The bodies are coming up like it's Halloween for the Clinton's. Rightly so. They lowered the bar and showed many the way. Play in the dirt expect alittle mud your way! Thank you!

Answer 5

And you strike again. Great question.

The fact is that she cannot disclose her spending for self preservation purposes. She is spending millions protecting the truth about her past from the public eye. And since many of the current democrat leaders in Congress can be implicated in some of these crimes that she has committed, they allow her to spend almost as much as she needs. If the democrats were smart, they would try to put fresh meat in the Congress so that Hillary's gross misuse of our tax dollar could be exposed.

I mean think about. To keep Sandy Burgler quite, she had to hire him. How much is he making? And is he really worth that much?

Answer 6

Anyone who actually believes that any Democratic President is in any way going to control spending just does not get it.

Listen. Universal health care? 5 grand per child? She hasn't even begun to redistribute wealth yet. Tax the rich? If you took all the money the top wealthiest people have it would not run the U.S. government for half a month. There are not enough actual rich people so, who you gonna call?

The middle class! Stand by for record taxes,
I mean, "contributions"or the other Democrat code words, "investments in the future".


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Answer 7

That's pretty funny. It's like saying one walrus is wetter than another.

Can you give us a ballpark figure of how much Ted Stevens has pissed away on the bridge to nowhere? That the Alaskan constituents have voted like three or four times that they don't want?

Your "argument" is specious.

Answer 8

Earmarks are the method of bringing money to a given state, it is routine, and done by many, the majority, of congressmen, and women. If we want it removed from the legislative process, then, we should work to do so.

Unfortunately, spending by the Republicans between 2000- 2006 left a massive federal deficit while all the while the Republican party being perceived by "conservatives" as the fiscally responsible party, WHAT A JOKE that is perpetrated on the American people..

Answer 9

How much does a pork barrel go for these days?

Answer 10

Earmarks need to be banned across the board. I'm sick of this crap. What do these things have to do with defense spending? What does a bridge in Alaska have to do with Hurricane Katrina? Nothing. If you want to have the Government allocate money for your state/district or whatever, give it a seperate bill so it can be voted on fairly.