It's a different bill. Government spending. It includes, among other things, a 25 billion bailout for the auto industry and a removal of the ban on offshore drilling.
Most of the discussion of this bill was lost in the noise over the financial industry bailout On Mon, Sep 29, 2008 at 7:24 PM, Erika L. Walker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > ... is this the 700 billion dollar bill or another one? I didnt realize it > was comprised of several different items if it is ... > > http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20080928-NEWS-809280344 > > $22 million for shipyard goes to Bush > > September 28, 2008 6:00 AM > > WASHINGTON (AP) The U.S. Senate on Saturday passed a sprawling spending > bill that includes $22.11 million for the construction of a new dry dock at > the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. > > The bill now goes to President Bush, who was expected to sign it even though > it spends more money and contains more pet projects than he would have > liked. > > Republican U.S. Senators Judd Gregg and John Sununu of New Hampshire and > Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins applauded passage of the bill. > > The senators issued a joint statement that included: "The fact that our > request for the dry dock waterfront support facility was fully appropriated > before Congress concluded its business for the year is a big win for the > shipyard. Fortunately, the final bill did not defer to the House funding > level of $1.45 million, which would have underfunded and delayed completion > of this critical project by the time the shipyard is slated to begin work on > the new Virginia class submarines in 2010." > > The bill also includes $9.9 million to consolidate aging facilities at the > yard into a more efficiently configured warehouse with automated material > handling systems, thereby reducing overhead support costs, energy usage, > overtime and infrastructure repair expenditures. > > The total price tag for the bill is $634 billion, which is needed to keep > the government operating beyond the current budget year, which ends Tuesday. > > In the bill, automakers gained $25 billion in taxpayer-subsidized loans and > oil companies won elimination of a long-standing ban on drilling off the > Atlantic and Pacific coasts. > > The action does not mean drilling is imminent and still leaves the oil-rich > eastern Gulf of Mexico off limits. But it could set the stage for the > government to offer leases in some Atlantic federal waters as early as 2011. > > Also in the bill is money to avert a shortfall in Pell college aid grants > and solve problems in the Women, Infants and Children program delivering > healthy foods to the poor. > > Taxpayers for Common Sense, a watchdog group, discovered 2,322 pet projects > totaling $6.6 billion. That included 2,025 in the defense portion alone that > cost a total of $4.9 billion. > > Critics of such "earmarks" promise to scrutinize them in coming weeks and > months for links to lobbyists and campaign contributions. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:271472 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
