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The 535 grifters in Congress the American people keep electing to control their lives are incapable of writing and passing a clean bill. It’s old news, yet We the People continue to accept it.

President Joe Biden signed the latest omnibus spending bill into law Tuesday which funds the federal government for a further six-plus months, and as is customary, tucked within its 2,741 pages are various appropriations for needy representatives and senators who have no respect for money.

One of the larger provisions in the $1.5 trillion measure provides about $13.6 billion in emergency aid for Ukraine as it defends against Russia’s invasion. That includes $4 billion to help displaced refugees and $6.5 billion for military assistance.

Here at home, the bill allocates $782 billion for military spending with an additional $125 billion going to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The bill, however, does a lot more than fund the federal government until the end of fiscal year 2022. There’s plenty of swine product to be found in it.

While it received bipartisan support, many Republicans were aggravated by the secrecy of the process, particularly the addition of provisions in the wee hours of the morning of March 9 which made it nearly impossible for any of the contents to be vetoed before it passed.

“My mom said nothing good happens after 10 p.m., certainly nothing good happens after midnight, and Pelosi’s bill is just another example of nothing good happens after midnight,” Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) told the Washington Examiner.

“Congress doesn’t know about what’s in the bill they’re passing, but we have to do this in an expedited manner so that Democrats can catch their buses and head off to Philly for their Democrat retreat,” Boebert said. “The whole process is completely broken.”

There are more than 4,000 earmarks in the spending bill that benefit members and their local interests. That accounts for $9.7 billion of the $1.5 trillion bill and takes up 367 pages of the behemoth. The provisions mostly benefit Democrats, but Republican lawmakers also cashed in. No matter what their perpetual overtures against big government may suggest, some Republicans will spend taxpayer money as quickly as any drunk-on-avarice Democrat will.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) was given an award by the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal, who said he “wins a prize for grift” with 142 earmarks totaling $258 million owed to him. Lead negotiators Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and the panel’s top Republican, Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, are bringing $800 million back to their states.

Here’s some more of the bacon the party in power brought home, as reported by the Washington Examiner:

• $496,000 for YMCA swimming pool improvements in Yonkers, New York, a project “essential for minimizing disparities in access to swimming lessons and aerobics, promoting health equity,” according to Rep. Jamaal Bowman, a first-term New York Democrat affiliated with the far-left “Squad.”
• $160,000 to study the sustainability of astronaut food at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, requested by Democratic Sen. Bob Casey.
• $110,000 for a food truck and refrigerated van to serve the Spanish American Center in Massachusetts, requested by Rep. Jim McGovern, a Democrat who chairs the House Rules Committee.
• $1.6 million for the “development of equitable growth of shellfish aquaculture in Rhode Island,” requested by Democratic Sens. Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse.
• $2 million for an electric vehicle-based ferry in Alaska, requested by Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
• $3 million for a Gandhi museum in Houston, requested by Democratic Rep. Al Green.

Meanwhile, the U.S. is still $30 trillion in debt.

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Frank Webster

Staff Writer

Frank (Chip) Webster is a musician and composer, former teacher of percussion and U.S. Army Infantry veteran. He holds a degree in English from Arizona State University.

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