Defense Supplemental Lard

I am concerned about the nonrelated provisions that are in the current supplemental for Iraq and Afghanistan. Some of the provisions deserve full floor debate, which a supplemental does not allow because it is a must pass. It also does not allow you to vote your conscience on wasteful spending becasue you should not vote against the supplemental. Let’s take out the unrelated provisions.

Here are the unrelated and wasteful provisions according to the Heritage Foundation:

• $700 million to destroy a recently-rebuilt freight railroad in Mississippi and replace it with a light rail line. The railroad’s owner would be forced to relocate the track several miles away, reportedly to help private developers build casinos near the track’s present location

• $594 million for highway projects unrelated to the Gulf Coast-some as far away as Hawaii

• 156 pork projects diverted from last year’s appropriations bills, including grants for air shows in Las Vegas, arts promotion in the Bronx, and a courthouse in West Virginia

• $1.1 billion for private fisheries

• $2.3 billion to prepare for the avian flu, on top of the $3.8 billion that was appropriated in December 2005

• $4 billion for farm bailouts, which comes on top of the $25 billion that will be spent this year on farm subsidies, even as farm income reaches near-record highs

This needs to stop becasue otherwise we will never cut the budget deficit. We the people, will also not be able to believe that you are serious about cutting waste, the debt, and reforming earmarks. Please stand up and demand that these projects out of the supplemental bill and make the offending senators justify why these items, especially the railroad in mississippi that we just fixed, should be funded at a time when we are asking for sacrifice from everyone else.

Thank you.