Guess the biggest earmark in the omni-porkulus bill. $2 billion FutureGen Alliance Project of Illinois – heavily supported by Dick Durbin AND Blago!

Tom Coburn proposed an amendment that would strike the largest single earmark ever – a $2 billion appropriation for the FutureGen Alliance Project of Illinois. Former Illinois Democrat Gov. Rod Blagojevich has been among the project’s biggest supporters, even though the U.S. Department of Energy says it’s a waste of resources. Of course, just as expected, Coburn’s fight to strip this pig out of the bill was denied. Here is a summary of what Coburn proposed before it was shot down (taken from the DC Examiner):

Coburn’s staff has compiled the following case against the FutureGen earmark:

  • $2 Billion FutureGen Earmark Violates President Obama’s Demand for an “Earmark-Free” Stimulus Bill
  • The $2 Billion Earmark for FutureGen Is the Most Expensive Congressional Pork Project in History
  • Department of Energy Says “FutureGen a Waste of Tax Money”
  • Independent Experts and Opinion Leaders Agree that FutureGen Is Not the Best Technology
  • Funding for FutureGen in this bill is a Result of Successful Lobbying rather than Its Potential for Job Creation or Energy Production
  • Energy Producers Who Are Enjoying Record Profits Do Not Need Government Subsidies, Especially at a Time When Other Struggling Industries Are Laying Off Employees
  • Carbon Capture Technology Is Not “Shovel Ready,” which is the Stated Criteria for Stimulus Funding
  • Earmarking Funding for Unproven Technology, for FutureGen or Any Other Company, Siphons Away Funding that Could be Better Directed to More Worthwhile Causes That Benefit Taxpayers
  • $2 Billion Earmark for FutureGen Is the Most Expensive Pork Project in History
  • It is 2,000 times more expensive than the $1 million Woodstock museum in New York that was rejected by the Senate.
  • It is nine times costlier than the infamous Alaska “Bridge to Nowhere,” which was priced at $223 million in 2005.[3]
  • The $1.5 billion earmarked by Congress to the Washington, D.C. Metro system last year had been the most expensive pork project, until now.
  • President Obama asked Congress to pass an economic stimulus bill free of Congressional pet projects.  Senate leaders claim there are no earmarks in the stimulus bill. Yet hidden in the text of a bill is very clever language intended to disguise its nature is the largest earmark in history– $2 billion for FutureGen Industrial Alliance, a company based in Matoon, Illinois.
  • The text of the bill reads “$2,000,000,000 is available for one or more near zero emission powerplant(s).” Yet, there is only one “near zero emissions” powerplant anywhere near development in the entire nation—the FutureGen power plant. In fact, FutureGen boasts being a “first-of-its-kind” power plant in development.[1] The truth is it could rightly be called an “only-of-its-kind” power plant under development.

No TweetBacks yet. (Be the first to Tweet this post)

Related posts:

  1. Theres no earmarks in the “stimulus”. Oh wait, Democrat David Obey’s son lobbied for porkulus earmark! LIAR LIAR PANTS ON FIRE B. Hussein Obama! Michelle Malkin received an interesting press release and documents from...
  2. I’m just a porkulus bill. Yes, I’m only a porkulus bill over 1100 pages of thrill, that no one has time to read. And I’m about to pass on Capitol Hill. Imagine if you will. 1100+ pages of the porkulus bill...
  3. Porkulus Earmark Scandal Breaking regarding Rep. John Murtha (D-PA)’s lobbying firm Taegan Goddard e-mailed a late-breaking bulletin tonight of a Capitol...
  4. Porkulus 1.5? $410 billion omnibus spending bill: Gang tattoo removal, Maine lobster, La Raza & more! Yea, well techically this bill isnt meant to “stimulate” the...
  5. Whats another $410 billion and 10% annual raises for Congress? Omni-porkulus passes. With Hussein Obama expected to put his big “O” signature...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

March 11, 2009 · Filed Under BlagObamaGate, Democrats, Porkulus

Share/Bookmark

Comments

One Response to “Guess the biggest earmark in the omni-porkulus bill. $2 billion FutureGen Alliance Project of Illinois – heavily supported by Dick Durbin AND Blago!”

  1. tomtom on March 17th, 2009 4:41 am

    lots of rhetoric from both sides of the aisle. Anyone know the actual,factual dollar amount of the earmarks? Pretend it is 20.5 Billion. Expressed as a percentage of the total spending (410 Billion)that’s five(5) percent of the total spending bill, yet both Repubs and Dems are crying(along with the media) that this is “loaded” with Pork,”laden” with Pork, “Porkulus”,etc.,etc., ad nauseum. As Mark Twain once said, “start with the facts, then distort them as you please.”
    There must be a non-partisan website that enumerates the potential Pork, however, remember one mans pork is another mans necessity.

    P.S.___only liberals are whiners???Isn’t that similar to saying that only conservatives are patriotic because they support the War in Iraq.
    At this time in our national debate, it seems that the chance of civil discourse and non-partisan solutions have about as much chance as the installation of a water cooler in Hades. (Gosh, better check the Omnibus Bill for that earmark!!!)

Lets hear your point of view! - A warning to the liberal whiners who seem intent to flood our comment section with profanity. Save your keystrokes. The anti spamming script will just automatically delete your comment. Feel free to disagree with the host on any article posted here, but flame baits, racism, and profanity laced tirades will NOT be tolerated, and will eventually get your IP address banned!




www.e-referrer.com