Rice County Republicans

The Bailout has become a buy-out as Congress has attempted to dress up this pig with enough “sweeteners” (their term) to make it palatable (read, PROFITABLE) to enough special interests to make it irresistable. This is the worst sort of vote-buying pandering and it is only so visible because it is (for once) tied to a bill that is only a few hundred pages. In the past, Rep. John Kline has opposed such pork. From MPR (hardly a bastion of conservatism) we see

Lawmakers filling up bailout bill

Posted at 4:39 PM on October 2, 2008 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

The watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense has had a look at the bailout plan that the House will vote on on Friday.

Among the items added to sweeten the deal, according to the report:

• • Current law allows taxpayers to write-off 50% of the cost of any facility placed in service before January 1, 2013 that produces cellulosic ethanol. This provision expands the types of facilities that may be written-off to include production of other cellulosic biofuels in addition to cellulosic ethanol.

  • Allows employers to provide a benefit to employees for costs associated with bicycle commuting, including purchase and repair of a bicycle, bicycle improvements, and bicycle storage. This provision was proposed in 2007 in the Senate by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and in the House by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR). This provision is estimated to cost $10 million.

  • Sec. 503. Exemption from excise tax for certain wooden arrows designed for use by children Current law places an excise tax of 39 cents on the first sale by the manufacturer, producer, or importer of any shaft of a type used to produce certain types of arrows. This proposal would exempt from the excise tax any shaft consisting of all natural wood with no laminations or artificial means to enhance the spine of the shaft used in the manufacture of an arrow that measures 5/16 of an inch or less and is unsuited for use with a bow with a peak draw weight of 30 pounds or more. The proposal is effective for shafts first sold after the date of enactment. The estimated cost of the proposal is $2 million over ten years, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.

    The Oregon senators were the initial sponsors of the provisions. According to Bloomberg News, the provision would be worth $200,000 to Rose City Archery in Myrtle Point, Oregon.

• • The bill also allows people who live in states where there isn’t an income tax, to deduct their state sales tax off their federal income instead. This was a sweetie for Texas, Nevada, Florida, Washington and Wyoming and will cost taxpayers $3.3 billion.

[emphasis added].

Sure hope Rep. Kline returns to his roots and votes against this pig. Its not the money, its the principle.