WasteWire Archive October- 2001 A collection of the costly ways in which Washington is spending your money.

House Democrats are planning a stimulus package that would include approximately $425 billion over the next 10 years for infrastructure projects around the country. Rep. Robert Borski (D-Penn.), a senior Democrat on the Transportation Committee, is calling for $5 billion in loans and projects that would primarily benefit his state. In fact, more railroad companies in the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association come from Pennsylvania than from any other state.
-- The Hill (10/24/01)

The U.S. Postal Service is feeling the pinch from the recent attacks and ongoing anthrax scare. Postal Rate Commission Analyst Robert Cohen said "it's likely is that postal debt will keep growing and growing and, ultimately, it could be up to Congress to bail them out. Even before Sept. 11, the Post Office was expecting a $1.65 billion deficit for fiscal 2001. It had announced its third rate hike in less than a year. It had cut 21,000 positions. It was $11 billion in debt, fast approaching the $15 billion ceiling set by Congress."
-- The Washington Post (10/22/01)

With an advertisment in the Wall Street Journal, the Health and Human Services Department this week launched an advertising campaign "to bring Medicare participants better services." The $30 million campaign will include television commercials and a Web site to inform seniors and what treatments Medicare covers, which supplemental insurance policies Medicare beneficiaries can use, and how to find a nursing home. The ad campaign also includes a 24-hour, toll-free hotline.
-- AP/Nando Times (10/18/01)

White House budget director Mitch Daniels said this week that the special $40 billion emergency fund would be "ample for months to come. It's an extraordinary amount of money. It's not east to spend this much." He also cautioned that it would be inadvisable for Congress to enact any new spending further this fall."
-- Washington Post (10/18/01)

The American Bus Association is asking Congress for cash handouts, low-interest loans, tax credits and federal fuel tax repeal. American Society of Travel Agents tell Congress they need $4 billion in grants and low interest loans. The agriculture industry, a perennial federal trough feeder, sees possible victory for a $167 billion farm bill that was headed for defeat. Amtrak officials are asking Congress for a $3 billion emergency cash infusion, while Amtrak's annual revenue total only $2 billion.
--Washington Post (10/17/01)

For Congress in the post-Sept. 11 era, anything and everything is grist for public hand-wringing and new spending. "Every department and agency is coming to us telling us that they need a lot more money because of the extra security precautions they have to take," Rep. John J. Duncan Jr. (R-Tenn.), chairman of the House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment, said during a hearing last week. The highway lobby is pushing for $5 billion in spending for roads and bridges, intended as an economic stimulus and to improve escape and emergency routes in case of further attacks. More spending will be needed for most of the proposals.
-- Los Angeles Times (10/16/01)

Labor unions and independent groups aligned with the anti-war effort are under attack in the House as lawmakers seek to cut off their federal money. A new analysis of grants to groups involved in the anti-war effort identifies unions, including the United Auto Workers, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and the Service Employees International Union. Analysis from census documents also found grants to independent groups that have blasted Bush's counter-terrorism efforts. "Should tax dollars be going to groups that protest the war? I don't think so," says an architect of the plan to end the grants.
-- www.usnews.com (10/10/01)

The House passed HR 2385, the "Virgin River Dinosaur Footprint Preserve Act" last week, to convey certain property to the city of St. George, UT, for the preservation of rare paleontological resources. The Republican Study Committee estimates the cost at $1 million.
-- The Republican Study Committee (10/10/01)

Mitch Daniels, director of the Office of Management and Budget, called upon the science community to pressure Congress to abandon science "earmarks," that is, spending programs that have not undergone peer review or been requested by an executive agency. But this week, former-Senator Bennett Johnston (D-La.), now a lobbyist, urged scientists to ignore Daniel's request. It's only $2 billion, he snorted, and by opposing such projects, scientists may alienate powerful appropriators. He described pork-barrel science as the price of doing business.
-- www.aps.org, 10/5/01

The Bush administration said it cannot support the $170 billion, 10-year farm bill on the House floor because it is too costly and unresponsive to major changes taking place in the agricultural sector. The bill will add $73.1 billion to current agricultural subsidies through 2011. The White House budget office said the legislation "fails to help farmers most in need, encourages overproduction of crops already in surplus, undermines efforts to reduce foreign agricultural subsidies, and boosts federal spending at a time of uncertainty."
-- Washington Post (10/4/01)

Congressman Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) requested a $50,000 federal grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to study the emotional toll of the 9/11 terrorist attacks have taken on Rhode Islanders . The state will use the money to interview doctors, police, and others to assess how to help post-traumatic stress disorder sufferers.
-- Associated Press (10/4/01)

In addition to spending $170 billion over 10 years, the Farm Security Act attempts the astonishing feat of turning peanut subsidies into an essential feature of the war on terror. We like Skippy as much as the next guy, but somehow we'd prefer a bit more firepower in the fight against Osama bin Laden. This peanut caper shows just what a fiasco our national farm program has become.
--Wall Street Journal (10/3/01)

No sooner had Congress passed an emergency financial aid package for the airline industry, than steel corporations were lobbying for a bailout on grounds that their dire condition was caused by the Sept. 11 attacks. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Penn.) argued that protecting steel companies is a national security issue - the argument that steel has made for many years.
-- Inside Report (10/2/01)