Thursday, December 11, 2014

Congress’ Big Spending Bill Covers Bullets, Cow Farts, and Chinese Chickens

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2014/12/11/Congress-Big-Spending-Bill-Covers-Bullets-Cow-Farts-and-Chinese-Chickens?utm_campaign=541c47950e351dbe08037e5f&utm_source=boomtrain&utm_medium=email&bt_alias=eyJ1c2VySWQiOiIyOWU2MDRjZS1jNmY3LTQzNTYtOTFhOC1mMjU5ZjNmMjAzOWUifQ%3D%3D

By Rob Garver,
The Fiscal Times
December 11, 2014

The bill, or some version of it, has to pass to avoid a government shutdown. So, naturally, members of Congress have festooned it with pet demands and policy prescriptions that, under other circumstances, might never get a floor vote.

Some of the provisions, including a move to gut the limits on campaign donations that wealthy individuals can give to political parties and another to loosen restrictions barring federally insured banks from making risky derivatives trades, got significant public attention on Wednesday.

Here are some others that may have escaped notice:

Bullets
When House Republican leadership held a press conference Wednesday morning, Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) could have chosen any number of elements of the omnibus to highlight. He opted for a provision preventing the Environmental Protection Agency from passing any rule “to regulate the lead content of ammunition, ammunition components, or fishing tackle under the Toxic Substances Control Act.” He said the threat of such a rule had made it so hard to buy ammo that people can’t even find it at Walmart.

[This is outrageous. Exposure to lead before birth and in childhood decreases IQ at the lowest levels of lead they can test for. It increases behaviour problems, including violent criminal behaviour when they grow up. We are told technology will save us from global warming, but they can't even figure out a way to make bullets w/o lead or some other toxic material?]

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The bill extends a ban on any effort by the federal government to restrict or otherwise interfere with the sale and production of incandescent light bulbs. At issue is a 2007 law signed by President George W. Bush that attempted to phase out inefficient incandescent bulbs in favor of more environmentally friendly, if widely hated, replacements such as the compact fluorescent bulb.

[They are "widely hated" largely because of manipulation of people by the incandescent bulb lobby. Are Americans really so soft and spoiled they just can't get used to a new source of light? I'm a highly sensitive person, and I have no problems with them.]

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Methane is widely acknowledged to be a potent greenhouse gas, responsible for global warming. Much of the methane produced in the U.S. comes from the flatulence of livestock raised for food. The bill specifically prohibits the EPA from issuing any regulation “requiring the issuance of permits under title V of the Clean Air Act…for carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, water vapor, or methane emissions resulting from biological processes associated with live- stock production.”

[So the convenience of big business farmers are more important than the survival of the human race?]

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