They Say That Excessively Fatty Foods Are Unhealthy, Yet The Bill is Stuffed With Pork

(Washington, D.C.) – The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) today condemned the billions in pork-barrel earmarks that are contained in the healthcare reform bills currently being crafted on Capitol Hill.  According to reporter Michael Kranish of The Boston Globe, both the House and Senate versions contain language that would fund pork-barrel items such as walking paths, streetlights, jungle gyms, and farmers’ markets, which proponents are describing as an attempt to upgrade “health infrastructure” and transform communities.

“It is appalling that members of Congress have withheld critical details related to some of the most important and costly aspects of this bill, grossly misrepresented the economic assumptions underlying their costs estimates, and have refused to commit to giving taxpayers a reasonable amount of time to review a bill that could disrupt 18 percent of the economy private health insurance industry,” said CCAGW President Tom Schatz.  “Yet they found the time to cram the bill with billions of dollars in self-serving pork-barrel items for boondoggles such a walking paths and farmer’s markets.” 

According to The Boston Globe article, the proposal “was inserted at the urging of a nonprofit, nonpartisan group called Trust for America’s Health,” and the Senate version of the bill, commonly referred to as the Kennedy-Dodd bill, actually included, word-for-word, language that was proposed by the group, calling for the creation of an “infrastructure to support active living and access to nutritious foods in a safe environment.’’  In its testimony, the group provided examples of grants for bike paths, jungle gyms, and lighting, though the Senate bill doesn’t list those specifics.  The group also suggested that the federal government establish a “Community Makeover Program,” which apparently entails spending money to beautify streets.

The Kennedy-Dodd bill, which was scored initially by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to cost an estimated $1.6 trillion over xxxxx was short of details related to many of those most costly and controversial sections of the bill, including information on the government-run insurance option favored by Congressional Democrats and the White House.  The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee

CCAGW is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, the nation’s largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.