So what's really in that stimulus bill?
Highlights, err ... lowlights, via Michelle Malkin:
* $2 billion earmark to re-start FutureGen, a near-zero emissions coal power plant in Illinois that the Dept. of Energy defunded last year because the project was inefficient
* A $246 million tax break for Hollywood movie producers to buy motion picture film
* $650 million for the digital television (DTV) converter box coupon program
* $248 million for furniture at the new Dept. of Homeland Security headquarters
* $600 million to buy hybrid vehicles for federal employees
* $1.4 billion for a rural waste disposal programs
* $150 million for Smithsonian museum facilities
* $6 billion to turn federal buildings into "green" buildings
* $500 million for state and local fire stations* $1.2 billion for "youth activities," including youth summer job programs
* $160 million for "paid volunteers" at the Corporation for National and Community Service
* $850 million for Amtrak
* $100 million for reducing the hazard of lead-based paint
* $200 million in funding for the lease of alternative energy vehicles for use on military installations.
Bad Policy
* Requires a government study on the impact of minimum wage laws on the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa.
* $79 billion State Fiscal Stabilization (slush) Fund to bail out the States by providing billions of dollars for "education" costs of any kind.
* Increases eligibility for "weatherization" assistance to households 200 percent above the poverty level.
* The "Making Work Pay" credit of $500 to every individual making less than $75,000 (or $1000 to couples making $150,000 or less) would pay people whether they are productive or not -- akin to welfare.
* The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP - food stamps) would temporarily suspend the 3-month limit for non-working adults to receive SNAP benefits, thus giving incentives not to find a job.
* Installs government as the creator of broadband deployment regardless of whether the specific local/regional market can sustain it.
* Funds new "green jobs" job-training program without eliminating inefficient job-training programs or consolidating duplicative job-training programs.
* $890 million to the Social Security Administration without any provisions to reduce improper payments, or any plan to increase solvency of the trust fund.
Sadly, this isn't even the half of it. Read the whole thing.
