Turporken
Turkey stuffed with pork!!
Turporken is the holiday meal on Capitol Hill, basically Obama’s turkey tax deal now stuffed with pork, the time-honored way to get bi-partisan support for legislative shit sandwiches. Here are the details:
“Altogether the bill includes more than 6,000 pet projects worth $8 billion, including:
- $80 million to states and Indian tribes to preserve Pacific salmon.
- $2.5 million for bike paths in Illinois.
- $4 million for the Kentucky National Guard to eradicate marijuana.
- $500,000 for transportation improvements at the Bronx Zoo.”
The biggest pork of course is reserved for corporate welfare:
The legislation contains $11 billion in energy tax breaks, including tax credits for biodiesel, energy-efficient homes, marginal oil wells and alternative vehicle refueling property. Alternative-energy industry lobbyists calculated correctly that Republicans would not bring down the tax bill over a few energy credits.
And billions in subsidies for polluting and wasteful ethanol producers remain intact.
Tags: "pork-barrel politics", earmarks, ethanol subsidies, tax cuts, U.S. Senate