NPR:
“It’s chock-full of it,” says Rep. Jeff Flake of Arizona, perhaps the most pork-conscious member of the Republican Party. “There aren’t congressional earmarks, and that’s a good thing. But when you get down to the city level, it’s chock-full of pork.”
No earmarks in the bill means no members of Congress managed to get a specific amount of money doled out to special projects in their districts. That is what is often called pork in big congressional spending bills.
But even without earmarks, Flake says the bill is made of bacon — and not because of the Obama administration, he adds.
“It’s gone through the congressional Democrats,” he says. “It’s basically a grab bag for every program that they’ve wanted to see funded for years.”
The bill pushes tens of billions of dollars into education, and not just for building and renovation projects, but for everything from Head Start to college loans and Pell Grants. Some Republicans ask: How does that stimulate the economy?
“For example, $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts,” Flake says. “There’s no better example than that. How that stimulates the economy, I don’t know.”
And then there is the grass. The bill includes $200 million to reseed the National Mall in Washington.
Just read on Talking Points Memo.
Militant Ignorance
It may not be advisable for anyone to actually listen to the arguments House Republicans are actually making on the House floor. We’re just listening again to Rep. Flake (R) who appears to have outdone himself in militant statements of economic nonsense. Earlier today we heard Flake claiming that tax cuts have no stimulus effect if they go to low-income earners who pay payroll taxes and not income taxes.
Now he’s explaining how capital spending on AMTRAK is also not stimulus because AMTRAK doesn’t run a profit. Again, total non-sequitur. I think rail is something we should be spending a lot more on. But you can certainly disagree with that on policy terms. But you can’t claim that that capital spending on rail stock and rail upgrades doesn’t provide jobs. Of course it provides jobs. And whether Amtrak is profitable or not is completely beside the point.
Where did they get this guy?
Actually, I forget. He’s a chief GOP spokesman on this whole issue.
–Josh Marshall