Ron Paul is Dr. No?

June 9, 2009

[Dog Gone]

Ron Paul is frequently described as a strict constitutionalist who won't vote for anything not authorized in the Constitution. Some call him Dr. No. Some call him "The Taxpayer's Best Friend."

It's a reputation that doesn't appear to square with the fact.

Try to find the constitutional authority for the earmarks he submitted for the upcoming FY 2009 budget.

Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science: • $250,000 for Galveston Economic Development Partnership, for Galveston Center for Business and Technology Development to help spin off private investment at National Lab of the University of Texas Medical Branch

• $500,000 for City of Bay City for NuBlac Rehab Center (youth rehabilitation)

Subcommittee on Defense: • $3.5 million for study of health risks of exposure to vanadium

Subcommittee on Military Construction: • $2 million for City of Bay City for NuBlac Rehab Center (serving minority veterans)

Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development: • $41.073 million for Army Corps of Engineers to deepen and widen Texas City Channel

• $21.6 million for Army Corps of Engineers to dredge and reconfigure jetties at mouth of Colorado River

• $7.02 million for Army Corps of Engineers to dredge Freeport Harbor

• $16.021 million for Army Corps of Engineers to maintain Galveston Harbor

• $1 million for Army Corps of Engineers for construction at Cedar Bayou

• $3.297 million for Army Corps of Engineers to maintain Texas City Channel

• $200,000 for Army Corps of Engineers to maintain Cedar Bayou

• $13.038 million for Army Corps of Engineers to maintain Matagorda Ship Channel

• $42.018 million for Army Corps of Engineers to maintain Gulf Intercoastal Waterway

• $3.026 million for Army Corps of Engineers to maintain channel to Victoria

• $600,000 for Army Corps of Engineers for feasibility study for Sabine Pass to Galveston Bay

• $400,000 for Army Corps of Engineers for feasibility study for Feeport Harbor

• $100,000 for Army Corps of Engineers for feasibility study for Lower Guadalupe River Basin

• $400,000 for Army Corps of Engineers for preliminary engineering and design study at Freeport Harbor.

• $21.7 million for Army Corps of Engineers for construction at Houston Galveston Navigation Channel

• $2.165 million for Army Corps of Engineers to maintain Trinity River

• $6.979 million for Army Corps of Engineers to maintain Wallisville Lake

• $1.3 million for Army Corps of Engineers to study flooding around Colorado River

• $11 million for Army Corps of Engineers for construction at Wharton and Onion Creek

• $3.026 million for Army Corps of Engineers for Chocolate Bayou

• $533,000 for Army Corps of Engineers to maintain channel to Port Bolivar

• $41.623 million for Army Corps of Engineers to maintain Houston Ship Channel

• $1.01 million for Army Corps of Engineers to maintain Double Bayou

• $3 million for Army Corps of Engineers for construction at Clear Creek

• $500,000 for Army Corps of Engineers to maintain Port Palacios

• $100,000 for Army Corps of Engineers to study sand placement near Brazoria County shoreline

Subcommittee on Interior and the Environment: • $5 million for Fort Bend County for City of Kendleton water and sewer improvements

Subcommittee on Homeland Security: • $10 million for Coast Guard to improve Galveston Rail Causeway

• $8.8 million for FEMA for drainage at Cove Harbor in Aransas County

• $2.2 million for FEMA to reconfigure and stabilize Capano Causeway Pier

• $500,000 for FEMA for Aransas County drainage master plan

• $35 million for FEMA for drainage in Friendswood

• $10 million for FEMA for drainage project for Friendswood/Clear Creek

• $10 million for FEMA for drainage project for Friendswood/Clear Creek

• $5 million for FEMA to recycle household hazardous waste in Friendswood

Subcommittee on Transportation: • $1.96 million to replace buses in and around Victoria

• $2 million to renovate transit maintenance facility in Galveston

• $5 million to reconfigure Texas Clipper training ship

• $25,000 to install security cameras at Fox Run Apartments in Victoria

• $2 million to beautify Galveston Seawall and support Transit Access Program in Galveston

• $3.6 million to construct inter-modal transit facility in Victoria

• $3.5 million for analysis of commuter rail alternatives in Galveston

• $10.3 million for City of Bay City for NuBlac Youth/Community Center

• $2.2 million for City of Bay City for improvements to electrical wiring in low and moderate income housing

Subcommittee on Labor, HHS, Education: • $90,000 for Victoria Chamber of Commerce for business/career-related education for youth

• $248,942 for UTMB for employee wellness program for small businesses

• $1.748 million for University of Houston-Victoria for DNA testing and genetic diagnostic lab

• $300,000 for Bay City MEHOP for fund reinstatement of mobile unit

• $200,000 for Bay City MEHOP to recruit nurse practitioner

• $1.92 million for UTMB to study muscle mass loss in aging vs. microgravity (NASA related) at International Space Station National Lab

• $750,000 for Houston Memorial Hermann HealthCare system for Life Flight operations center

• $26 million for Washington, D.C. "Reading is Fundamental" program

• $10 million for Boston, Mass., "Reach Out and Read" national center

Houston Chronicle

[jmc813]

It was worth it just to irritate the crap out of you.

Hey. Mission accomplished. But I can take comfort in the fact that as much as New Jersey sucks, I have one of the best congressmen out there, Mr. Scott Garrett. Google him. Condolences again about your boy Chris Peden.

[Dog Gone]

Peden wasn’t really my boy. I don’t know very much about him except that he wasn’t named Ron Paul.

Is Ron Paul ever going to withdraw from the Presidential race?

[SecAmndmt]

Earmarks are NOT spending.

I don’t want Congressional earmarks to go away either. I’d much rather have Congress decide where the money gets spent, instead of the executive branch. Congresscritters who speak out against Congressional earmarks while voting FOR the spending bills are not committed to reducing federal spending.

If we were to elect 218 pro-earmark RP Republicans to the House and 51 in the Senate, earmarks would go away AND the federal budget would shrink dramatically.

[MarcoPolo]

This is one of the few things I’ve come to really disagree with Dr. Paul about. I’ve heard him give his reasoning for this stuff, but I just don’t support proposal of or voting for unConstitutional spending. I think if I had a chance to speak with him personally this would be one thing I would like to talk to him about-—to tell him that his supporters don’t just want him to vote no but also to refuse to propose any unConstitutional spending.