[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 51 (Friday, March 23, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H3001-H3002]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  SUPPLEMENTAL BILL PASSED FOR PEANUTS

  (Mr. KIRK asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, today the House passed a bill claiming to be 
the U.S. Troop Readiness Act that included billions in pork barrel 
spending unrelated to the needs of our troops. The funding restrictions 
included in the bill were so unpopular that the congressional 
leadership loaded a $25 million bailout for spinach farmers, a $74 
million payment for peanut storage, and a $283 million subsidy for milk 
producers, all to attract votes for the unpopular bill.
  As USA Today stated: ``Votes were won for peanuts, or to be more 
accurate, for peanut subsidies.'' The bill also declares all of this 
spending, for spinach, for milk and peanut subsidies, as emergency 
wartime supplemental appropriations.

[[Page H3002]]

  This bill passed $23 billion over budget. It only passed by four 
votes. Calculating a pork-to-vote ratio, that means that the Congress 
spent over $5 billion in pork spending per vote just to win passage for 
this legislation. And it is only March. How much more will the taxpayer 
be charged to pass other unpopular bills?

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