Many claims of Democrats slipping in earmarks for frivolous projects aren't true.
Summary
Do some of the Republican claims you've heard about the stimulus bill sound too awful to be true? We find a few that are wildly exaggerated or downright false (In other words LIES).
It's not true that the bill contains spending for "golf carts." It has $300 million to buy fuel-efficient vehicles, some of which may be electric cart-like utility vehicles.
Money claimed to be for "remodeled federal offices" is mostly designated for upgrading buildings to "green" status through such things as thicker insulation and highly efficient lighting, not new drapes or paneling.
A widely repeated claim that $8 billion is set aside for a "levitating train" to Disneyland is untrue. That total is for unspecified high-speed rail projects, and some of it may or may not end up going to a proposed 300-mph "maglev" train connecting Anaheim, Calif., with Las Vegas.
There's no money in the bill specified for butterfly parks, Frisbee golf courses or water slides, despite a GOP congressman's claim that the bill "will fund" those projects. He culled those silly-sounding items from a list of 18,750 city projects that the U.S. Conference of Mayors cobbled together in January as examples of "shovel-ready" projects.
Don't look for FactCheck.org to defend any particular item in the bill, or to criticize it. We will, however, call out politicians for delivering trumped-up descriptions of the bill's contents.
Note: This is a summary only. The full article with analysis, images and citations may be viewed at FactCheck.org
1 comment:
Read about how much money is going to what departments, what states, etc. Some departments will have their choice of projects. All designed to get people working so they can have money to spend, Duh! Stimulate!
http://www.propublica.org/special/the-stimulus-plan-a-detailed-list-of-spending
I particularly like the $8000. home buyers Tax Credit refund. We just bought a new home and I will put most of that money back into our economy by spending it locally where I live! Stimulating the economy. Sounds like a plan that will work for me. Tax breaks for the wealthy give me nothing in my pocket to spend.
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