While I am no fan of John McCain, I do admire his opposition to wasteful spending. His latest effort was for naught, however. While 32 Republicans and two Democrats joined him, he couldn’t stop billions of dollars of earmarks from being approved:
While Republican opposition in the House focused more on the bill’s overall spending, McCain and allies turned the Senate spotlight squarely on earmarks.
“How does anyone justify some of these earmarks: $1.7 million for pig odor research in Iowa; $2 million ‘for the promotion of astronomy’ in Hawaii; $6.6 million for termite research in New Orleans; $2.1 million for the Center for Grape Genetics in New York,” he said.
He also noted the legislation includes 14 earmarks requested by lawmakers for projects sought by PMA Group, a lobbying company at the center of a federal corruption investigation.
Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said he would seek to have them removed.
Taxpayers for Common Sense estimates the legislation contains 8,570 disclosed earmarks worth $7.7 billion. House Democrats declined to provide an estimate of the number of pet projects in the bill, and put their cost at $3.8 billion.
Nearly two million dollars for pig odor research? What could they possibly need two million dollars for?
President Obama is expected to sign this bill into law.
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