“He Didn’t Just Approve It, He Defends It”

This morning, Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK) and John McCain (R-AZ) released their latest report highlighting 100 of the strangest projects the “Stimulus” is or has been funding.  Here are some of their examples:

• $554,763 for the Forest Service to replace windows in a closed visitor center at Mount St. Helens
• $762,372 to create “Dance Draw” interactive dance software
• $62 million for a tunnel to nowhere in Pittsburgh, PA even Democratic Governor Ed Rendell called “a tragic mistake”
• $1.9 million for international ant research
• $1.8 million for a road project that is threatening a pastor’s home
• $308 million for a joint clean energy venture with…BP
• $89,298 to replace a new sidewalk that leads to a ditch in Boynton, OK
• $3.8 million for a “streetscaping” project that has reduced traffic and caused a business to fire two employees
• $16 million to help Boeing to clean up an environmental mess it created in 2007
• $200,000 to help Siberian communities lobby Russian policy makers
• $39.7 million to upgrade the statehouse and political offices in Topeka, Kansas
• $760,000 to Georgia Tech to study improvised music
• $700,000 to study why monkeys respond negatively to inequity
• $193,956 to study voter perceptions of the economic stimulus
• $363,760 to help NIH promote the positive impacts of stimulus projects
• $456,663 to study the circulation of Neptune’s atmosphere
• $529,648 to study the effects of local populations on the environment…in the Himalayas

You can read the entire report, “Summertime Blues: 100 Stimulus Projects that Give Taxpayers the Blues,” here.

In late February of 2009, Senator Feingold defended the Stimulus packages’ make up in an opinion piece seen in Wisconsin newspapers.

Feingold Said “Stimulus” Must Be Spent Wisely. “Now that the economic recovery package has been signed into law, our focus must be on the challenges ahead, including getting our fiscal house in order and making sure that there is strong oversight of these taxpayer dollars.  These funds must be spent wisely if they are to truly work for Wisconsin’s families.”  (Editorial, “Russ Feingold: Stimulus Package Makes Sense,” La Crosse Tribune, 2/25/2009.)

With 9.5% unemployment and reports showing where the money’s really going, it’s clear the money has neither been ‘spent wisely’ nor is it ‘truly working for Wisconsin’s families.’

Actually Senator, ObamaCare Does Cut Medicare

According to Senator Russ Feingold in an interview to the Hudson Star-Observer there were no cuts in Medicare and to say otherwise is a lie.

“Feingold called Republican assertions that the health care act cut Medicare “an absolute fraud.”
“It did not cut Medicare benefits,” he said.

Actually, Senator, it did.

By about $500 Billion according to this January 2010 letter from the Congressional Budget Office. ObamaCare also cut $200 billion from Medicare Advantage, according to this article in the Wall Street Journal. 100,000 Wisconsinites will lose Medicare Advantage coverage because of the bill.

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