One Year of Failed Policies- One Year of the the $862 Billion Stimulus Bill

House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) today released a new YouTube video targeting the failure of Washington Democrats trillion-dollar stimulus bill and asking, “Where are the jobs?”

John Boehner also released a report to go with the video titled, “Where are the jobs?

And, Republican Whip Eric Cantor released this list of top 12 lowlights from the Democrat Stimulus bill from this past year.

One Year Later: A Look Back At The Democrat Stimulus Top 12 Spending Lowlights

On the occasion of the one-year anniversary of the “stimulus” bill, we take a moment to highlight 12 – one for each month – of the most outrageous wastes of money from the bill. One might be tempted to chuckle at the list if it wasn’t for the fact that government had to borrow every one of these dollars which our children and grandchildren will have to pay back…with interest.

1. $67,726 Makes Casino Employees More Polite The Oneida Bingo and Casino outside of Green Bay, Wisconsin used a federal grant they received through the stimulus package to send their staff to a customer service seminar. The two day seminar was held at a local technical college to teach the casino staff how to handle confrontations with customers. It was clear to the instructors, however, that the casino staff was already well trained at handling confrontations.

2. Bike Trails To Local Fast Food Restaurant The Federal Highway Administration has allocated $4 million in federal stimulus dollars to build a 2.66 mile bike trail in Massachusetts. The planned corridor will provide a new path connecting the Manhan Bike Trail to the Northampton and Norwottuck Trails. Once the new trail is completed, the Manhan bikers will finally have access to a local fast food restaurant in Northampton.

3. Millions To Democrat Operatives Two firms run by Mark Penn, current Secretary of State Clinton’s former presidential campaign pollster, received a total of $5.97 million in taxpayer funds from the stimulus bill.

4. Smoke Marijuana, Drink Liquor, Get Stimulus Cash The State University of New York at Buffalo received $390,000 in stimulus funds to conduct a study on the relationship between drinking malt liquor and using marijuana. 100 people will be paid $45 a day for three weeks by taxpayers to drink malt liquor and smoke marijuana.

5. Imagine Life As A Broom, Free Of Charge The Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra is receiving $25,000 in federal stimulus funds to provide five free concerts in the Sacramento area. The concerts will run from December 3rd through December 7th and will include such programs as Bohuslav Martinu’s “Kitchen Revue,” where audiences can imagine the “life of a pot, a lid, a broom and a dishrag.”

6. Did You Save 30 Seconds On Your Last Trip Through Thedford, Nebraska? $7 million in taxpayer stimulus funds are being used to build a bridge in Thedford, Nebraska. The purpose of the bridge? Helping 168 residents avoid a 30 second wait at a local train crossing.

7. Tobacco Sales In Thailand, Dragon Boat Racing In Asia, And HIV & Sex In Russia The National Institutes of Health (NIH) received $8.2 billion in stimulus funds. Recent reports suggest that the NIH is using a substantial portion of this money for questionable studies in foreign countries. Specifically, the NIH is conducting a $65,472 study on the relationship between HIV and sex in St. Petersburg, Russia; a $700,000 study on how taxes, trade and politics affect tobacco sales in Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and other nations in Southeast Asia; and a $73,000 study on whether the Asian tradition of dragon boat racing will enhance the lives of cancer survivors.

8. Need Forest Fire Money But Don’t Have A Forest? No Problem. The U.S. Forest Service will spend $2.8 million in “Wildland Fire Management” stimulus funds on Washington, D.C., despite the fact that the city does not have a national forest. The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) does not even include Washington, D.C. in its annual wildfire statistics.

9. Only The Government Remodels A House Before It Tears It Down Picher Housing Authority in Oklahoma received $135,494 in stimulus money from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) so they could rehabilitate homes and business in the Tar Creek Superfund site which is currently scheduled to be demolished.

10. Before The Stimulus, How Did The Turtle Cross The Road? The Florida Department of Transportation will spend $3.4 million in stimulus funds to build an “eco-passage” for turtles and other animals under U.S. Highway 27 in Jackson Lake, Florida. The project will consist of a series of fences to direct turtles to a 13-foot long tunnel under the highway, helping them avoid the oncoming traffic.

11. New Desks For Government Bureaucrats. Don’t They Already Have Jobs? The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HUD), spent $326,078.12 in stimulus funds on a contract to “purchase and install 98 workstations.” That works out to a total cost of $3,327 per workstation. HRSA will also get 20 “Conference Chairs in Grade A Fabric with Casters” as part of the deal.

12. At Least You Can Skateboard While Your Town Goes Bankrupt The city of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, which has a $5.2 million school budget deficit and about a $4.8 million municipal deficit and has eliminated about 40 city jobs so far this year, announced that they will spend $550,000 in federal stimulus money to construct a skateboard park at a local school, because it is “shovel-ready.”

Eric Cantor also released an extensive timeline of the democrats $862 billion stimulus plan.

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Jim Hoft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016. In 2023, The Gateway Pundit received the Most Trusted Print Media Award at the American Liberty Awards.

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