Mysterious fund allows Congress to spend freely, despite earmark ban

By Cole Deines, CNN
May 28, 2011 7:54 p.m. EDT

Washington (CNN) -- The defense bill that just passed the House of Representatives includes a back-door fund that lets individual members of Congress funnel millions of dollars into projects of their choosing.

This is happening despite a congressional ban on earmarks -- special, discretionary spending that has funded Congress' pet projects back home in years past, but now has fallen out of favor among budget-conscious deficit hawks.

Under the cloak of a mysteriously-named "Mission Force Enhancement Transfer Fund," Congress has been squirreling away money -- like $9 million for "future undersea capabilities development," $19 million for "Navy ship preliminary design and feasibility studies," and more than $30 million for a "corrosion prevention program."

So in a year dominated by demands for spending cuts, where did all the money come from?

http://us.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/05/28/mysterious.fund/index.html?hpt=T1



"Mission Force Enhancement Transfer Fund"??? :banghead:

Because 'jails don't matter'.

:shrug:

and any of those wicked MJ smokers

will not change. Hope and change have become code for 'business as usual.

This is the link to an OP regarding lard/earmarks in the defense budget http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=439&topic_id=1160378#1160636,



This snip is two years old, but it gives an idea of how hopey/changey has turned into ‘business as usual

<snip>White House Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Peter Orszag, said yesterday that President Obama will sign the $410 billion omnibus spending bill recently passed by the Democratic controlled Congress. The bill contains some 9,000 earmarks, spending items inserted by individual Congressmen for pet projects in their districts. When he signs the bill, Obama will violate a promise he made on the campaign trail to reduce the number of earmarks, or pork projects, in legislation. More at link>

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/03/02/obama-to-break-... /

This one reinforces the first one - the names and players change, but the game continues as before.

Obama's promise to go after earmarks 'line by line'
By Bill Adair
Published on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 3:49 p.m.


During the presidential campaign, earmark reform was a major theme for John McCain, who often highlighted projects of other candidates that he considered wasteful. During the first presidential debate on Sept. 26, 2008, Barack Obama said he had stopped requesting earmarks as a senator and that he shared McCain's desire for earmark reform and the elimination of wasteful projects.

McCain noted that Obama had made $932 million in earmark requests during his first three years as a senator and he criticized Obama for saying earmarks accounted for "only $18 billion" in federal spending. <more at link>

http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2009/mar/03... /


Oh, and GITMO is still open, too.

All these earmarks will pass. It’s the way things are.

It's all the same. Lehman hiding debt, congress exceeding the debt ceiling, Greece hiding debt with the help of Goldman...