The Real Priorities on Capitol Hill Emerge

Senate war bill features $20B in pork, Washington Examiner

"The $100 million for the political party conventions - $50 million for the Democratic convention in Denver and $50 million for the Republican convention in St. Paul, Minn. - is included in a section described as "Katrina recovery, veterans' care and for other purposes."

S.965: "$100,000,000 shall be for reimbursing State and local law enforcement entities for security and related costs, including overtime, associated with the 2008 Presidential Candidate Nominating Conventions, of which $50,000,000 shall be for the city of Denver, Colorado and $50,000,000 shall be for the city of St. Paul, Minnesota."

Editor's note: The next time you ask your Congressional representatives why they don't support adequate funding for NASA (or other things), you might want to bring this little gem up. It would seem that some politicians view the subsidizing of a week of parties, receptions, and wearing silly hats for political loyalists as being far more important than [insert your concern here]. Given the hundreds of millions of dollars that will be raised for the 2008 election - most of which will be spent on attack ads - shouldn't the political parties be called upon to pay for all this extra security?