NTF Issue Paper: nelsonb5.doc. 3-09.
NEBRASKA TAXPAYERS FOR FREEDOM ISSUE
PAPER:
SENATOR BEN-OCCHIO NELSON VOTES FOR OBAMA PORKULUS PACKAGE.
Sen. Ben Nelson (D.-NE.)
Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson, a member of the Senate
Appropriations Committee, boasted that Republicans and Democrats would gut the almost
$900 billion President Obama Porkulus Bill of items that he said will not stimulate job growth.[1] Nelson
charged that the preliminary bill was too loaded with wasteful spending, so he
met with Republicans to discuss cutting waste, a group dubbed the "job
squad" by Obama.[2] “It is a jobs bill,” Nelson declared, “and
today you might call us the jobs squad.”[3] "We
trimmed the fat, fried the bacon, and milked the sacred cows," Nelson said as debate began.[4] He pledged to slash wasteful spending from the bill, so that
moderate Republicans and Democrats would more likely vote for it. He supposedly scrubbed the bill of spending that did not
narrowly target job and economic growth. Nelson said, "Our goal is to have
a bill that is both bipartisan and effective.”[5] His “squad” determined
to cut $100 billion from the stimulus bill. Among his targets: $1.1 billion for
health-care research into what actually is cost-effective. An aide explained that, in the senator's opinion, there is
"some spending that was more stimulative than other kinds of
spending."[6] "I'm very committed to making sure that we get it scrubbed
clean of many of these programs," assured Nelson.[7]
February
9, 2009 –Senator Ben Nelson delivered these comments on the Senate floor:
“I rise today to take action. For action is what is demanded by this
American, and global, economic crisis…and I worked with 12 Democrats and 6
Republicans to cut and tailor our bipartisan compromise, so it focuses like a
laser-beam on tax cuts for the middle class and job
creation for millions of Americans. “While it certainly is easier to
stay on the sidelines, it is our responsibility as members of Congress to
American taxpayers to approve a recovery plan that is tailored, targeted, and lean.” However, his plan left unchanged $87
billion in Medicaid pork to states, and the cuts his group found were reductions in
new spending, not actual cuts.
February 10, 2009 – Senator Nelson released a statement following his vote to pass the Porkulus Bill in the Senate: “Taxpayers also must get the most bang for the buck.”
February 13,
2009 – Senator Nelson delivered this statement on the Senate floor shortly
before the Senate voted again on the
Porkulus Bill: “This plan is a vast improvement over the
first proposal considered several weeks ago. I and a number of colleagues came
together to work across the political aisle with a shared goal: scrub as much pork, non-stimulative spending and fat as
possible from the bill to focus it sharply on saving and creating millions of
jobs.”
The following are many of the Porkulus Bill items for which Sen. Nelson
voted, expenditures, etc. that supposedly
will help taxpaying Nebraskans. See
which items (if any) will help you and your family:
Welfare:
·
The
bill gives states more incentive to keep people on welfare with its massive
hike in welfare spending. Total spending for welfare cash, food, housing, and
medical care for the welfare crowd is over $260 billion, 1/3 of the bill costs,
and about $6,700 in new welfare largesse for each poor person. The 10-yr. cost in new welfare spending will
total $800 billion, $22,000 for each poor person.
·
$89
billion more for Medicaid.
·
Loosened
Medicaid eligibility standards.
·
Nebraska
will gain an additional $300 million in Medicaid help to subsidize childrens’
health care in families earning up to
200% of the federal poverty guideline.
State taxpayers must contribute 28% in matching funds.
·
Additional
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funds.
·
More
funds for Supplemental Security Income.
·
Expansion
of food stamps by $20 billion.
·
Suspends
the 3-month limit for non-working able-bodied adults to collect food stamps.
·
Welfare
recipients no longer must work for their welfare checks.
·
Billions
in old-fashioned welfare spending will undermine the very successful welfare
reforms of 1996, thus discouraging folks from working and encouraging more and
permanent dependence upon government largesse.
·
No
cap on federal welfare dollars sent to states.
·
$1.5
billion in grants to states and private groups to alleviate homelessness. Recipients can use up to 5% of a grant for
administrative overhead costs!
·
$15
billion for subsidized housing and ecological renovations of welfare housing.
·
$6.2 billion for subsidized weatherization of
homes of those whose incomes are 200%
above the poverty level.
·
Subsidized
housing $$ will fund the radical ACORN group, which conducts fraudulent voter
drives to register Democrat voters.
Recall that ACORN, whose activists Barack Obama trained, pressured banks
to grant risky loans to people who could not repay them, thus helping to create
our present mortgage crisis. Federal and
state law enforcement is investigating ACORN in several states for its fraudulent
activities, including voter fraud.
Meanwhile, ACORN will receive billions to push its radical agenda, buy
votes, and fill its piggy bank.
·
$7.2 billion for expanding Internet connections
for the poor.
·
$75 million to convince smokers to quit.
·
$36 billion for extended unemployment benefits. $25 more per week each.
·
$25 million for Indian tribe alcohol and drug
abuse prevention.
Taxes:
·
Expansion
of the earned income tax credit for those with 3 or more kids and who pay no
federal income taxes. This program is one of the largest anti-poverty subsidies.
·
A
refundable tax credit of $500 to poor, able-bodied adults who pay no federal
income taxes.
·
Welfare
families would have more access to the $1,000 child tax credit, though they do
not pay federal income taxes.
·
Nebraska
taxpayers will gain a $13 federal income tax credit per week this year; only $8
next year. Singles making over $75,000 yearly or couples earning over $150,000
yearly will not get this tax credit.
·
A married couple with 2 kids earning $35,000 annually will save
$1,200 on their 2009 taxes, according to a Deloitte Tax analysis.
·
Illegal aliens with legal or phony Social Security numbers will
receive Obama tax rebates.
·
Of
the $838 billion package, only $280 million constitutes tax cuts.
·
Parents
with children in college will get tax credits up to $2,500 to help pay tuition
and related expenses only in 2009 and
2010.
·
First time homebuyers will see a tax credit of up to $8,000 only for this year.
·
People who buy new cars only
in 2009 can deduct the sales taxes from their taxable income. No deduction for car loan interest.
·
Small businesses unable to operate profitably could use their
losses to offset profits made during the previous 5 yrs. instead of 2, making
them eligible for tax refunds. No such
preference for successful businesses!
·
Businesses restructuring debt from losing operations can delay
paying taxes for 5 yrs., then spread payments over the next 5 yrs.
·
Businesses purchasing equipment like computers can speed up
depreciation only through 2009.
·
Tax relief to small businesses totaled only .28%, though such
businesses created 60-80% of net new jobs yearly for the last decade.
·
Only 25% of the bill concerned tax relief.
Traditional
Values:
·
To
prohibit colleges and universities from using funds to renovate or repair
facilities that sponsor religious activities like prayer meetings.
Health
& Medical:
·
Mandated
cost-effective standards that will lead to rationed health care. Creation of a comparative effectiveness
research program leading to a board that will have authority to ration health
care as it sees fit instead of allowing physicians to decide treatment.
·
To force everyone into a government-managed
health care system or pay a fine or tax.
A National Coordinator of Health Information Technology will monitor
medical treatments to ascertain that your doctor is following appropriate
federal guidelines. The feds will monitor
your doctor in deciding your medical treatment. Doctors will ration health care
based on those guidelines. The feds will
enforce uniformity and punish physicians who refuse or fail to follow
guidelines “with increasingly stringent penalties.” If the feds believe that a treatment is too
expensive and therefore unwarranted for an elderly person, they will deny
treatment. Call this the “Pull the Plug
on Granny” part of the Porkulus Bill.
·
The bill mandates electronic health records
for each citizen without an opt-out or patient consent provision. Your health records will become shared among up
to 600,000 covered health organizations.
This plan is a terrible violation of privacy and will violate
doctor-patient confidentiality. Also,
expect a lot of junk mail.
·
$400 million for the Centers for Disease
Control to screen and prevent venereal diseases in depressed areas.
Junk Spending:
·
$650 million for consumer coupons to
buy converter boxes for digital TV.
·
A $246 million tax credit for
Hollywood movie producers to purchase motion picture film.
·
$248 million to buy furniture at the
new Dept. of Homeland Security hq.
·
$125 million for the Washington,
D.C. sewer system.
·
$6 billion to renovate federal
buildings into ecologically-pure buildings.
·
$50 million for the National
Endowment for the Arts.
·
$200 million to renovate the
National Mall in Washington, D.C.
·
$88 million to help move the Public
Health Service into a new building.
·
$7.6 billion for rural community
advancement programs, whatever they are.
·
$600 million for the National Oceanic
& Atmospheric Admin. to create climate modeling to counter global warming.
·
$1 billion for new NOAA office
buildings.
·
$400 million for global warming
research.
·
$70 million to support
supercomputing activities for global warming research
·
$1.5 billion for eco-technology loan
guarantees.
·
$150 million for agricultural crop
subsidies.
·
$150 million in research funds for
producers of bees and farm-raised fish.
·
To build a water park in Miami, Fla.
·
$1 billion for manufacture of
advanced state of art batteries, like lithium ion batteries, though most of
these come manufactured from Asia, thus creating no American jobs.
·
$20 million to remove fish passage
barriers.
·
$34 million to renovate the Dept. of
Commerce hq.
·
$75 million to build a new training
facility for State Dept. security officers, though existing facilities at other
agencies can train them.
·
To fund a government study on the
impact of minimum wage laws on the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa.
Transportation:
·
$850
million for money-losing Amtrak.
·
$10 million to inspect urban canals.
·
$300 million for federal government
battery-powered vehicles.
·
$200 million to lease “green” energy
vehicles for use on military installations.
·
$8 billion for high-speed rail
grants to states, one of which Sen. Harry Reid earmarked for his rail project
to bring more Californians to Las Vegas to gamble.
·
$25 million to rehabilitate off-road
ATV trails.
Energy:
·
$47.8 billion for energy programs,
but no funding to make fossil fuels like our vehicle fuel more affordable.
·
$7,500 tax credits to buy hybrid vehicles that
sell at inflated prices.
·
$2 billion to restart a “green”
emissions coal power plant in Illinois defunded by the Dept. of Energy for
inefficiency.
·
$3 million for “green” golf carts,
tax credits for buying tiny vehicles that use electric batteries instead of
gas. You plug one into your home
electrical outlet. Fed regulations limit
the top speed to 25 mph, so do not count on using this vehicle to commute to
work.
·
$300 million for energy-efficient
appliance rebate programs.
Education:
·
$200 million for public computer
centers at community colleges.
·
$79 billion state slush fund to bail
out states by providing funding to fill in gaps in state education spending.
Jobs:
·
$4 billion for job training
programs, including $1.2 billion for youth up to age 24!
·
$1.2 billion for youth activities,
including temporary summer job
programs.
·
$160 million for paid volunteers at
the Corporation for National & Community Service.
·
$160 million for the Job Corps
program at the Dept. of Labor, not for employment purposes but to build and
renovate buildings.
·
The bill supposedly will create
about 3.5 million jobs, translating into $229,000 per job. The average NE salary is about $35,000.
CONCLUSION.
The Nelson-Collins deal failed to cut Porkulus spending. At $828 billion, the Nelson compromise cost
$7 billion MORE than the bill passed by Speaker Pelosi in the House.[8] The curative job growth and tax and pork spending cuts
promised by Sen. Ben-occhio Nelson obviously are not included in this
bill. Servicing the debt will cost
billions. Contact his office and let his
staff know how you feel about his vote to pass this Porkulus Bill. If the senator plans a future pig roast for
his re-election campaign, he will have plenty of pork to feed his constituents,
along with the baloney he fed us about the Porkulus Bill!
Honorable Ben Nelson
U.S. Senate
OMAHA
LINCOLN SCOTTSBLUFF
720 Hart Office Bldg. 7602 Pacific
Str. #205 440 North 8
Street #120 P.O. Box 1472
Washington, D.C. 20510-2706 Omaha, NE. 68114 Scottsbluff, NE.69363
(202) 224-6551 391-3411 Lincoln, NE.
68508 (308) 631-7614
FAX:
(202) 228-0012
Fax: 391-4725 Phone: 441-4600
Research
and documentation for this issue paper done by Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom.
This material copyrighted and notarized by Nebraska Taxpayers for
Freedom, with express prior permission for its use by Citizens for Local
Control, Cherry County Taxpayers, Dawes County Taxpayers, and other groups in
the Tax Freedom Network. 3-09
C