Cantor Urges Republicans to Attack Senate Stimulus
House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) is circulating a new list of talking points for Republicans to use when attacking the Senate economic stimulus bill as wasteful spending.
In a Tuesday afternoon memo sent to Republican press secretaries, Cantor outlines why the Senate version of the stimulus is worse than the $819 billion plan that passed the House last week without a single GOP vote.
Cantor cites a number of questionable spending items in the Senate bill, including $20 million for the removal of small-to-medium-sized fish passage barriers, $25 million for recreation maintenance, especially for rehabilitation of off-road vehicle routes, and another $43 million for park and fish and wildlife trails.
According to Cantors memo, other wasteful spending includes $100 million to fund museums including the so-called mob museum in Las Vegas, $90 million to subsidize the purchase of analog to digital TV converter boxes to Public Interest Groups, and $400 million for STD education and prevention.
Cantor also warns what happens when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is given extra STD prevention funds arguing that the agency previously used its budget for a transgender beauty pageant in San Francisco, a Stop AIDS Project event that taught participants how to flirt with greater finesse, and Booty Call and Great Sex events hosted by a group that received $698,000 in government funds.
Other GOP concerns with the Senate bill cited are a $404 million for cybersecurity and IT expenses by the State Department; $70 million for a climate-research computer; $524 million to create 388 jobs through the State Department Capital Investment Fund, which equals $1.35 million per job created; and $696 million for Department of Homeland Security headquarters consolidation.
Cantor, however, maintained that Republicans are still willing to work with President Barack Obama on the final bill despite House Democratic leaders not having held a single working meeting with Republicans to find the most effective solutions for our challenged economy, he said.