Senate Minority Whip Mitch McConnell's skids were greased.

http://news.yahoo.com/congressional-deal-includes-nearly--3-billion-for-kentucky-dam-project-001012679.html

Quote :

 Most experts agree that there were no real winners in the government shutdown debate. And many political forecasters say the brunt of fallout from the debate over the shutdown and the debt ceiling is likely to hurt Republican lawmakers.

However, the nation’s leading Republican senator came out of the deal far from empty handed. That’s because it’s been reported that Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell secured language in the new government funding bill that includes nearly $3 billion for a dam project in his home state of Kentucky.

According to reports, a provision in the funding bill includes $2.918 billion in funding to the Army Corps of Engineers to install locks as part of the Olmsted Dam and Lock Authority Project on the Ohio River.

A recent investigation by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch found that the project has run millions of dollars over budget and should have been completed “years ago.” The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers estimates that the project will not be fully complete until 2024.

McConnell’s spokesman dodged a question about the funding provision when asked by local radio affiliate WFPL.

But it was an existing project, so I guess it isn't too bad.  We're so broke that I hate to read about us spending more money, though.

This makes me wonder what other politicians were placated ($$$) to make this legislation more palatable... Democrats too.

Eric wrote:

This makes me wonder what other politicians were placated ($$$) to make this legislation more palatable... Democrats too.

Watched John McCain getting interviewed and almost puked...He stated that there was a lot of pork added to this legislation at the last minute that shouldn't have been added he called this "disgusting" and if he had written it...the pork would not have been added...but he voted for it crap and all....Then Greta asked him about Congress...Staffs...Certain Corporations...Unions and Donors exemption from participation in [name] cowh healthcare...again the senator agreed that this was wrong on all levels etc.,....but yet he and others lack the intestinal fortitude to call out the hypocrisy...very inmpressed that Greta on several occassions said to him...You all (congress) don't seem to have a problem with taking care of yourselves...to which there was little comment in return and even though he agreed it's exactly business as usual in Washington DC perhaps even worse than it's ever been...Career politicians are the problem and even though they recognize that a law/bill is wrong....they'll take care of themselves....

The poor politicians were just so tired and incompetent that they didn't have time to identify all the vote buying pork tossed in at the last minute - although I suspect this very pork was the cause of the delays in getting a bill through in the first place. They are all swine.

"All told, the fiscal cliff law designed to reduce the deficit, added $74 billion in spending through changes in the tax law.

The "fiscal cliff" law passed so quickly, many in Congress never realized it was full of special interest tax breaks, one of which allows auto racetrack owners to speed up their tax deductions.

Another tax write off goes to Hollywood -- a $20 million break anytime a TV show or movie is shot in an economically depressed area of the United States.

There's a subsidy for rum made in Puerto Rico, a tax break if you train a mine rescue worker, and a tax credit for every kilowatt of electricity produced by wind.

All told, the fiscal cliff law designed to reduce the deficit, added $74 billion in spending through changes in the tax law."

nochain wrote:

The poor politicians were just so tired and incompetent that they didn't have time to identify all the vote buying pork tossed in at the last minute - although I suspect this very pork was the cause of the delays in getting a bill through in the first place. They are all swine.

"All told, the fiscal cliff law designed to reduce the deficit, added $74 billion in spending through changes in the tax law.

The "fiscal cliff" law passed so quickly, many in Congress never realized it was full of special interest tax breaks, one of which allows auto racetrack owners to speed up their tax deductions.

Another tax write off goes to Hollywood -- a $20 million break anytime a TV show or movie is shot in an economically depressed area of the United States.

There's a subsidy for rum made in Puerto Rico, a tax break if you train a mine rescue worker, and a tax credit for every kilowatt of electricity produced by wind.

All told, the fiscal cliff law designed to reduce the deficit, added $74 billion in spending through changes in the tax law."

Too bad the voters won't cut the 'porkers' in 2014....As Harry Reid said after the passage....Over the period of the last two weeks Americans have seen the discourse but now have seen Congress come together in a Bipartisian effort to get this deal done....Does this comfort ANYONE...sounds like DC Rhetoric that ....WE got and protected ourselves and the working middle class is certainly gonna continue to get screwed again....

Regarding the comment about the dam project I mentioned, I have this clarification:

Quote :

It gained attention because the two states it straddles are represented by two of the Senate's most powerful members: the Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, and No. 2 Democratic leader, Richard Durbin of Illinois.

Both men said they had nothing to do with the provision, and others backed that up. Aides to Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the leaders of a Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees water projects, said they had requested the provision.

They said President Barack Obama had requested the project in his budget this year and said it has been included in House and Senate water bills this year too.

"This is not an earmark," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who with McConnell struck the compromise on the overall shutdown and debt limit bill, told reporters Wednesday.

According to http://news.yahoo.com/shutdown-bill-items-states-fed-agencies-065939104--politics.html

Quote :

The 35-page bill had only a handful of such narrowly aimed provisions. That's a far cry from years ago, when spending bills would be studded with hundreds of "earmarks," or projects for specific states or congressional districts, often designed to ensure the votes of lawmakers.

Colorado got some money to help rebuild roads destroyed by recent flooding, and the Veterans Administration got some money to process veteran disability claims.

The Hollywood stuff sounds like pork indeed.

Eric wrote:

Regarding the comment about the dam project I mentioned, I have this clarification:

Quote :

It gained attention because the two states it straddles are represented by two of the Senate's most powerful members: the Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, and No. 2 Democratic leader, Richard Durbin of Illinois.

Both men said they had nothing to do with the provision, and others backed that up. Aides to Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the leaders of a Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees water projects, said they had requested the provision.

They said President Barack Obama had requested the project in his budget this year and said it has been included in House and Senate water bills this year too.

"This is not an earmark," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who with McConnell struck the compromise on the overall shutdown and debt limit bill, told reporters Wednesday.

According to http://news.yahoo.com/shutdown-bill-items-states-fed-agencies-065939104--politics.html

Quote :

The 35-page bill had only a handful of such narrowly aimed provisions. That's a far cry from years ago, when spending bills would be studded with hundreds of "earmarks," or projects for specific states or congressional districts, often designed to ensure the votes of lawmakers.

Colorado got some money to help rebuild roads destroyed by recent flooding, and the Veterans Administration got some money to process veteran disability claims.

The Hollywood stuff sounds like pork indeed.

PERFECT!!!!....Bipartisianship Republican McConnell (R) gets his pork for the homefolks and Durbin (D) does too....Guess this is what they mean by working together...Again this is really not comforting to anyone...They can and did grease the wheels for all this but when it was time to be quick for service members...veterans...survivor benefits and the fiasco at the WWII Memorial the government didn't move so fast but quickly solved the food stamp mess...Is anyone surprised that the Hollywood crowd can get breaks but the working middle class can't?....

The way Hollywood does it's accounting, that will be figured in the losses somehow. Hollywood has screwed many actors in blockbuster movies, when they opted for a percentage of the profits.

Pelosi thinks the pork is no big deal - she is mad however that the bill didn't spend enough. Unreal.

"Pelosi on pork project: ‘What difference does it make?"
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi Thursday said she can’t answer for why pork-barrel items snuck into the debt and spending bill that passed Congress late Thursday, but said the press should stop focusing on that and instead look at the broader debt fight.
“What difference does it make?” Mrs. Pelosi said when she was asked repeatedly about the items, which include a $174,000 payment to the widow of the late multimillionaire Sen. Frank Lautenberg and a $2 billion maximum price increase on a dam project on the Ohio River that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had supported as an earmark in previous years.
The House Democratic leader said there were other reasons to be upset with the bill, including that it doesn’t spend as much as she wanted. But she said focusing on pork projects was missing the fight.
“If you want to have an objection to the bill, there are bigger things,” she said.


Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/17/pelosi-pork-project-what-difference-does-it-make/#ixzz2i0Ys3UvW

... and on NorthEscambia.com, this tidbit came through Congress earlier:

Quote :

While Congress struggled recently to pass a budget or an increase to the national debt limit, one program made it through rather easily, according to a September New York Times report: farm subsidies for inactive “farmers.” The subsidies were renewed, based on a 2008 law, virtually assuring that more than 18,000 in-name-only farmers (who received $24 million last year) will not be cut off. Included, according to a 2012 Government Accountability Office report, were recipients at 2,300 “farms” that had not grown a single crop in five years (including 622 without a crop in 10 years).

Eric wrote:

... and on NorthEscambia.com, this tidbit came through Congress earlier:

Quote :

While Congress struggled recently to pass a budget or an increase to the national debt limit, one program made it through rather easily, according to a September New York Times report: farm subsidies for inactive “farmers.” The subsidies were renewed, based on a 2008 law, virtually assuring that more than 18,000 in-name-only farmers (who received $24 million last year) will not be cut off. Included, according to a 2012 Government Accountability Office report, were recipients at 2,300 “farms” that had not grown a single crop in five years (including 622 without a crop in 10 years).

Another program that makes no sense anymore. Along with oil company subsidies.

nochain wrote:

Pelosi thinks the pork is no big deal - she is mad however that the bill didn't spend enough. Unreal.

"Pelosi on pork project: ‘What difference does it make?"
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi Thursday said she can’t answer for why pork-barrel items snuck into the debt and spending bill that passed Congress late Thursday, but said the press should stop focusing on that and instead look at the broader debt fight.
“What difference does it make?” Mrs. Pelosi said when she was asked repeatedly about the items, which include a $174,000 payment to the widow of the late multimillionaire Sen. Frank Lautenberg and a $2 billion maximum price increase on a dam project on the Ohio River that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had supported as an earmark in previous years.
The House Democratic leader said there were other reasons to be upset with the bill, including that it doesn’t spend as much as she wanted. But she said focusing on pork projects was missing the fight.
“If you want to have an objection to the bill, there are bigger things,” she said.


Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/17/pelosi-pork-project-what-difference-does-it-make/#ixzz2i0Ys3UvW

   Pelosi has said in the past...Washington DC does not have a spending problem....Guess she and some others really believe that...Can remember farm subsidies in place going back to the early 70's...living in a rural area farmers would tell you that not planting a field was better financially...Then politicians began to wonder why there was a decline of the 'family farms'.....