A few examples of the "pork" in the bailout bill

[ThoughtCriminal]

Original Article

DENVER (MyFOXColorado.com) - Pass it. Back it. Believe in it, they say. Just don't read the fine print of the 451 page, $700 billion bailout plan because, well, things get a little bit wooly.


Like Section 325 which provides essential tax breaks for the "wool research fund." Seriously.

Section 503 gives tax breaks for the manufacture of wooden arrows used in toys for children.

And Section 309, a tax credit for economic development, in America. Actually, American Samoa. Metro State Political Science professor Norm Provizer says putting in the goodies simply gets votes.

"As soon as they started discussing sweetening the bill to make it more attractive…in American politics the sweetener is often money," he said.

In Section 316: a tax break for railroad track maintenance.

And Section 317, a tax break for race tracks.

This was clearly not the bail-out bill most folks expected.

"I think it's wrong, it's wrong," one voter told us. "How does that affect us, where do we profit, what do we expect to gain from it?"

In the end, the pork probably won't kill the bill. And there are tax credits for renewable energy, and tax relief that is popular.

Just makes you wonder about the other wolf-ish provisions, in sheep's clothing.

Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar said he wished the un-related provisions would come out of the bill. But said the renewable energy tax credits were important. Sen. Wayne Allard voted against the bill because it cost too much.

[adymond]

Wow this is something that is making people on the left and right agree.

I want to know how ANY of that shit relates to the financial instution meltdown. I want to know how renewable energy can be tied in to this. That is a seperate issue, make it a seperate bill.

[billamj]

Wow this is something that is making people on the left and right agree.

I want to know how ANY of that shit relates to the financial instution meltdown. I want to know how renewable energy can be tied in to this. That is a seperate issue, make it a seperate bill.

Ah, grasshopper, you have found the magic key to the idiotdom of Washington. The pork is actually the "teaspoon of sugar that makes the medicine go down." Without the pork there is no bailout and unfortunately the idiots on the Potomac have put us in a position that is so untenable that they have no choice but to move forward with it.

[Kimba]

The very reason I like to see line vetos.

[Pector55]

The very reason I like to see line vetos.

What is crazy is that a Republican first requested it (Reagan) then a Republican congress approved it for Clinton, then a Republican Mayor (Guiliani) helped get rid of it through a Repubican (Reagan) appointed judge who said it was not constitutional. <shrug>

FYI, another Republican (Bush) had a lighter version reintroduced and McCain endorsed it. The Dems opposed it but it passed.

From Wiki:
"When asked how this proposed legislation was different from the 1996 Line Item Veto Act that was found unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court, Bolten said that whereas the former act granted unilateral authority to the Executive to disallow specific spending line items, the new proposal would seek Congressional approval of such line-item vetoes. Thus, in order for the President to successfully rescind previously enacted spending, a simple majority of Congress is required to agree to specific legislation to that effect."

[adymond]

Ah, grasshopper, you have found the magic key to the idiotdom of Washington. The pork is actually the "teaspoon of sugar that makes the medicine go down." Without the pork there is no bailout and unfortunately the idiots on the Potomac have put us in a position that is so untenable that they have no choice but to move forward with it.

This is why most of my posts lately have had this attached to them. To the American people the sugar is that we should be able to have our businesses and personal lines of credit opened back up (which is ecactly what got our greedy lazy asses in this mess in the first place ) and the medicine is the flipping bail out or what ever the hell the spin doctors want to call it. I am sick and tired of the God Damned crap that goes on in DC. I want out! give me my tax dollars and let me use them as I see fit. I wish our taxes could be like charitable contributions in the sense that we can say I want 80% of my federal taxes to go to Defense spending, 10% to infrastructure, 5% to education, and 5% to additional VA spending or something like that. Then the entitlements we are forced to fund would be funded by those that choose to fund them. If they dry up then so be it.

[Elmar]

Line item veto is unconstitutional and a bad idea. It allows any President to change legislation by only approving pieces of it.

What we need to do is disallow riders and amendments on Bills from being added. If you want pork Mr Congressman you need to submit it as a bill to be discussed. If you want to talk about a bailout bill you talk only about the bailout. This leads to clear accountability in our officials - which they dread.

Doing this will also slow up the system as every rider has to be talked about separately as a bill and voted on. The slower they can move the more freedom we retain. The more culpability they have to deal with the easier to vote the bad ones (most of them) out.

[adymond]

Line item veto is unconstitutional and a bad idea. It allows any President to change legislation by only approving pieces of it.

What we need to do is disallow riders and amendments on Bills from being added. If you want pork Mr Congressman you need to submit it as a bill to be discussed. If you want to talk about a bailout bill you talk only about the bailout. This leads to clear accountability in our officials - which they dread.

Doing this will also slow up the system as every rider has to be talked about separately as a bill and voted on. The slower they can move the more freedom we retain. The more culpability they have to deal with the easier to vote the bad ones (most of them) out.

That part I bolded is exactly what I was saying we should see. If it is a bailout to buy bad debt that is all the bill should have. No more of the damn riders in a 400+ page bill that our elected officials don't even have time to read. Maybe each copy of the bill should have 3 randomly placed check boxes that Congressional representatives must check. When they vote they have to turn in their copy of the bill and any that do not have all 3 check boxes checked have their votes thrown out and they have their names published as voting for legislation that they did not fully read.

[ALS]

I like section I think it is 110 that states that a home owner that is in financial trouble can go to a government judge and appeal to get his or her mortgage terms changed. Too much? The Judge could order the Bank or Mortgage holder to reduce the interest, the principle or extend the payment out over an addition time frame.
So lets see I buy a $300K home and I can't afford the payments since I can only really afford to pay on a $100K home. So my 6.5% interest 30 year $280K mortgage is too expensive. I can try to get the judge to drop the interest rate to zero, and cut the principle to 100K and extend it out to 40 years.

How long do you think it is going to be before banks will start to discontinue the issuing of mortgages? Oh they may still grant them if you have zero debt put a down 33% and a 750 plus credit score.

I also like what happened in Europe with the bail out last week. The banks pocketed the money and still are not loaning it out. Reason they said they needed it to recapitalise their operations. When the economy turns around they will start loaning money again.

Anyone want take bets on what is going to happen with all that money in this $900 Billion bail out?

[Exbiker]

Some of the PORK:

Renewable energy
Carbon Mitigation and Coal Provisions

TRANSPORTATION AND DOMESTIC FUEL SECURITY PROVISIONS

ENERGY CONSERVATION AND EFFICIENCY PROVISIONS

ENERGY CREDIT FOR SMALL WIND PROPERTY

ENERGY CREDIT FOR GEOTHERMAL HEAT PUMP CREDIT FOR RESIDENTIAL

ENERGY EFFICIENT PROPERTY.SYSTEMS.

REMOVAL OF LIMITATION FOR SOLAR ELECTRIC PROPERTY

CREDIT FOR RESIDENTIAL WIND PROPERTY

CREDIT FOR STEEL INDUSTRY FUEL

TEMPORARY INCREASE IN COAL EXCISE TAX; FUNDING OF BLACK LUNG
DISABILITY TRUST FUND.

SPECIAL RULES FOR REFUND OF THE COAL EXCISE TAX TO CERTAIN COAL PRODUCERS AND EXPORTERS.

CERTAIN INCOME AND GAINS RELATING TO INDUSTRIAL SOURCE CARBON DIOXIDE TREATED AS QUALIFYING INCOME FOR PUBLICLY TRADED PARTNERSHIPS

CREDIT FOR NEW QUALIFIED PLUG-IN ELECTRIC DRIVE MOTOR VEHICLES

EXCLUSION FROM HEAVY TRUCK TAX FOR IDLING REDUCTION UNITS AND ADVANCED INSULATION.

INCREASE AND EXTENSION OF OIL SPILL LIABILITY TRUST FUND TAX.

ALTERNATIVE MINIMUM TAX RELIEF

EXTENSION OF BUSINESS TAX PROVISIONS

$8,500 income threshold used to calculate refundable portion of child
tax credit.

Provisions related to film and television productions.

Exemption from excise tax for certain wooden arrows designed for
use by children.

Income averaging for amounts received in connection with the Exxon
Valdez litigation.

Certain farming business machinery and equipment treated as 5-year
property.

Modification of penalty on understatement of taxpayer’s liability by
tax return preparer.

Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and
Addiction Equity Act of 2008

DISASTER RELIEF

http://banking.senate.gov/public/_fi...O08C32_xml.pdf