Government spending has to be renewed every year. Which means that an annual budget needs to be passed by Congress and signed by the President. That budget is currently being debated in the Senate, as the deadline to pass it is this Saturday at midnight. If it’s not passed, the government will discontinue nonessential services until we can come to some sort of agreement about how and where to spend taxpayer dollars.

The omnibus spending bill is nearly 2,000 pages long and has a price tag of $1,270,000,000,000, which includes $8,000,000,000 in earmark spending. There are thousands of these pet-projects in the bill, including $247,000 for virus free wine grapes in Washington State and $400,000 for solar parking canopies and plug-in electric stations in Kansas.

Republicans are outraged at this excessive spending, and are refusing to pass the bill because of it. Never mind that some of them have their own earmarks in there. The thing about earmarks — they’re necessary for politicians to get a slice of the pie for their constituents. If politicians don’t bring home the proverbial bacon for their districts or states, they face losing their jobs by being voted out. The system might be messed up, but it is what it is, and until we start asking serious questions about the practicality of using federal funds for local projects, it stays.

Read the rest at The Stir

Remember Bart Stupak? He was the “pro-life” House Democrat that caved to peer-pressure and voted for the health care bill along with ten of his cronies. The next day, the bill was signed into law by President Obama. But don’t worry, President Obama signed an executive order that would outlaw federally funded abortions. Except for the fact that that order isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.

Why would they cave, I wonder? What could be the cost of 11 votes that would tip the scale on the health care bill that has nothing to do with health care? Apparently it costs $3.4 billion.

The 11 House Democrats led by Rep. Bart Stupak who dropped their opposition to health care reform legislation mere hours before the final vote have requested $3.4 billion in earmarks — and one watchdog group wants to know whether the money represents business as usual or political payoffs.

Stupak’s office said there’s absolutely no link between the earmarks and the health care bill’s passage.

Sure. There’s absolutely no link between my happy hubby and my new pair of shoes either. Give and take. Making deals. You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. It’s part of being human. But we’re not playing with other people’s money. Democrats are.