I guess we DON’T “haveta pass the bill to find out what’s in it”!
American taxpayers still reeling from coronavirus lockdowns will be shelling out billions to foreign countries if Congress passes a $2.3 trillion spending bill unveiled Monday.
The 5,593 page budget-busting bill was posted online Monday afternoon, only hours before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said a vote would be held.
For some countries, Christmas came early:
- $169,739,000 to Vietnam, including $19 million to remediate dioxins (page 1476).
- Unspecified funds to “continue support for not-for-profit institutions of higher education in Kabul, Afghanistan that are accessible to both women and men in a coeducational environment” (page 1477).
- $198,323,000 to Bangladesh, including $23.5 million to support Burmese refugees and $23.3 million for “democracy programs” (page 1485).
- $130,265,000 to Nepal for “development and democracy programs” (page 1485).
- Pakistan: $15 million for “democracy programs” and $10 million for “gender programs” (page 1486).
- Sri Lanka: Up to $15 million “for the refurbishing of a high endurance cutter,” which is a type of patrol boat (page 1489).
- $505,925,000 to Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama to “address key factors that contribute to the migration of unaccompanied, undocumented minors to the United States” (pages 1490-1491).
- $461,375,000 to Colombia for programs related to counternarcotics and human rights (pages 1494-1496).
- $74.8 million to the “Caribbean Basin Security Initiative” (page 1498).
- $33 million “for democracy programs for Venezuela” (page 1498).
- Unspecified amount to Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Curacao, and Trinidad and Tobago “for assistance for communities in countries supporting or otherwise impacted by refugees from Venezuela” (page 1499).
- $132,025,000 “for assistance for Georgia” (page 1499).
- $453 million “for assistance for Ukraine” (page 1500).
Rep. Andy Biggs slammed the bill before the details even emerged:
“Just another bill we have to pass before the American people discover all the goodies that special interests jammed into it over the past week.”
Rep. Andy Biggs
(R) Arizona
Calamity Jane