mcconnell got some pork for the deal

[User157088589849]

a dam in kentucky just got a 2.2million increase from 700k. mcconnell says appropriations did it not him. but three bits of pork got in

3m for colorado flooding.
a payment to frank lautenburgs widow
2.2m increase for a dam in kentucky

conservative groups are furious. think it could be big??? they say its similar to ben nelsons healthcare vote bribe.

thehill.com breaking the story now for more info

[Link]

Don't even know what to say.

[User157088589849]

*shakes head*

*sighs*

i think its a 2 on a stupid scale.

[Ban my account ffs!]

who cares... they probably need the dam fixed in Kentucky... CO certainly could use some help after the intense flooding there... and a body or company paying out a benefit to the widow of a former member is just common decency.

If all it took to get McConnell to do this was to fix a dam in Kentucky... then good for McConnell.

[Grumpier Than Thou]

Jolly good show, gents.

[Ban my account ffs!]

Jolly good show, gents.

Hey now....

[Grumpier Than Thou]

Snowguy, you are the only poster in this thread (other than myself) that i do not have on ignore

[Indy Texas]

who cares... they probably need the dam fixed in Kentucky... CO certainly could use some help after the intense flooding there... and a body or company paying out a benefit to the widow of a former member is just common decency.

If all it took to get McConnell to do this was to fix a dam in Kentucky... then good for McConnell.

A state whose registered voters elect the likes of Rand Paul and Sir Turtle doesn't deserve functioning dams. It would seem that they voted, more or less, to not get their damn dam fixed.

Widow's benefits are generally not to be expected unless the dead spouse died "in the line of duty" (i.e. police, firemen) or their employer was somehow responsible for their death, in which case a civil judgment would function as survivors' benefits. Neither of these things apply to Frank Lautenberg's death. Furthermore, he was a very wealthy man when he died and his widow should have no trouble managing on the fortune he has left behind.

[Stranger in a strange land]

It's not like 1.5 million will break the federal budget. If that's what it takes to keep the government funded, then so be it.

[Deus Naturae]

Typical GOP.

[Lief 🗽]

Good. Pork barrel spending is a good thing. It's basically the only way we get infrastructure funded in this country.

[Cory]

Supposedly this is becoming kind of a "big deal" on the right:

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/conservatives-mitch-mcconnell-kentucky-kickback-spending-deal-98428.html?hp=r3

Politico:

Conservative groups ripped into Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, accusing him of earmarking $2 billion for a famously troubled lock-and-dam project that would benefit his home state as part of the bill to reopen the government and avert a debt default.

“It’s the Kentucky Kickback,” the Senate Conservatives Fund, which is considering backing McConnell’s primary opponent, wrote in a blog post. “In exchange for funding Obamacare and raising the debt limit, Mitch McConnell has secured a $2 billion earmark. This is an insult to all the Kentucky families who don’t want to pay for Obamacare and don’t want to shoulder any more debt.”

McConnell’s office said he had no role in securing the language, which was authored by Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.). Versions of the water project measure passed both the House and Senate earlier this year.

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I think this could add some temporary fuel to the fire against McConnell but I think if push comes to shove in the primary the Paul organization will bail him out.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Any chance he gets primaried because of this? LOL.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

There are plenty of things worse than a bit of infrastructure money.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Good. Pork barrel spending is a good thing. It's basically the only way we get infrastructure funded in this country.

But Obama said he'd only sign a clean bill?  What's clean about this bill?

[RogueBeaver]

No surprise there. McConnell's been explicitly making the "don't shoot Santa Claus" argument for months.

[Grumpier Than Thou]

There are plenty of things worse than a bit of infrastructure money.

Like a bee sting.

[The Mikado]

Good, bring back earmarks in general.  "Pork barrel" spending on things constituents actually want was one of the better aspects of Congress.

Seriously, are any of these "good government" process reform ideas actually worthwhile?