Friday, February 13, 2009

House of Hypocrisy?

The House of Representatives has approved the $787 Billion compromise stimulus package, but on a straight party vote of 246 to 183. The New York Times story discussing the vote is here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/14/us/politics/14web-stim.html?_r=1&hp

As the Times reports, House Republicans fumed about the cost of the stimulus in their speeches. House minority leader John Boehner of Ohio argued that a bill that was supposed to be about “jobs, jobs, jobs” had turned into one that was about “spending, spending, spending.”

What a difference a presidency makes. When George W. Bush was in office, Rep. Boehner and his cronies had no problems with voting for authorizations for the Iraq escapade, up to a total of $800 Billion through mid-2009. See http://usliberals.about.com/od/homelandsecurit1/a/IraqNumbers.htm

Included in that "spending, spending, spending" was $20 Billion paid to KBR, a former division of Halliburton (formerly run by Dick Cheney) to supply U.S. military in Iraq with food, fuel, housing and other items. The portion of the $20 billion paid to KBR that Pentagon auditors deem "questionable or unsupportable"? A mere $3.2 Billion.

Pity the House Republicans. Hypocrisy is such a pathetic failing.

2 comments:

Going Bygone said...

nice to find your blog, Jim. refreshing.

Jim Craig said...

Glad you like it -- pass the word. And comment some more!