CFA Alerts House: Vote No on H.R. 5850, the THUD Appropriations Act

Thursday, July 29, 2010 12:52 PM

Today, CFA warned House members that we may rate a vote for H.R. 5850. The Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) Appropriations Act is chock full of earmarks and will place a huge burden on taxpayers.  CFA strongly opposes the spending in this appropriations bill and urges the House to vote no. The THUD bill is a favorite pet project of many members, as transportation and housing initiatives offer a wealth of opportunities to sneak pork back to their districts – many Republican members of Congress have offered amendments that would strip some of these wasteful spending projects. However, even if all of the earmarks were stripped out, this bill would still waste billions of taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars:

• The bill totals $67.4 billion in spending, expanding appropriations made in 2008 by over 38 percent.  This does not take into account the $13.61 billion already allocated to HUD under the “stimulus” bill.
• The bill contains 461 earmarks worth $328.4 million.  Notably, 355 of these earmarks are Democrat-sponsored.
• The House bill includes $45.2 billion for highway construction, $3.9 billion above President Obama’s request and $4.1 bill above these allocations in 2009.
• Amtrak will continue to receive generous government subsidies in this bill, with allocations totaling $1.77 billion.  These funds are on top of the $1.3 billion doled out in the “stimulus” grants while Amtrak continues to operate in the red.

Click here to see the entire alert.

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