War, baseball & national ID - Bill contains much 'pork' in the name of a 'defense' bill

3/15/05 - According to a news release from The Liberty Committee, tomorrow evening or Wednesday morning the U.S. House will vote on the
Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on
Terror, and Tsunami Relief -- all rolled into one awful bill: H.R.
1268. We urge a "no" vote because of what the bill contains tonight. (We
can only imagine what will be added during the next 24 hours when
members' pet projects are funded to buy those members' votes.)

At $87.5 billion, it will be the second largest supplemental
appropriations bill in the history of the world (and also of the United States);
second only to the one last year. The funds will be considered
"emergency" so they can ignore spending caps and the billions in new spending
won’t need to be offset by reducing spending elsewhere.

Here is a partial list:
1. $656 million for tsunami relief.
2. $94 million for Darfur.
3. $150 million for food aid; most to Liberia and Sudan.
4. $580 million for peacekeeping; most for Sudan.
5. $582 million to build a new American embassy in Iraq.
6. $76 million to build a new airport in Kuwait.
7. $257 million for counter drug efforts in Afghanistan.
8. $372 million for health, reconstruction and alternative development
programs to help farmers stop raising poppy.
9. $200 million in economic aid for the Palestinians.
10. $150 million for Pakistan.
11. $200 million for Jordan.
12. $34 million for Ukraine.
13. $40 million for FBI personnel in Iraq.

This emergency wartime bill will also allow the District of Columbia to
use taxpayers' funds to build a new baseball stadium. Talk about an
"emergency!"

What about the national ID? Well, it's not official at this moment,
but the national ID bill (H.R. 418) that the House recently passed will
likely be added at the last minute; thereby avoiding a separate vote by
the U.S. Senate.

Yes, oppose this pork-laden emergency wartime bill because it includes
the national ID, or because it clears the way for a taxpayer-financed
baseball stadium, or whatever else might be added at the last
minute...and you will be charged with "not supporting our troops."

Tell your U.S. representative to vote against this extortion in the
name of "patriotism" and vote "no" on H.R. 1268 because you do support our
troops, and don't support the billions of dollar of pork.

To send your message, go to
http://capwiz.com/liberty/issues/alert/?alertid=7216431&type=CO

Kent Snyder
The Liberty Committee
http://www.thelibertycommittee.org