Mmmmm, Pork
By Jamie Shufflebarger
Buried inside Senate Maj. Leader Harry Reid's 12/19 manager's amendment was a mysterious $100M for an unspecified "Health Care Facility." It was confirmed by ABC News' "The Note" and AP that Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) inserted the following paragraph into the health care bill on behalf of his home state:
"(a) APPROPRIATION.--There are authorized to be appropriated, and there are appropriated to the Department of Health and Human Services, $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2010, to remain available for obligation until September 30, 2011, to be used for debt service on, or direct construction or renovation of, a health care facility that provides research, inpatient tertiary care, or outpatient clinical services. Such facility shall be affiliated with an academic health center at a public research university in the United States that contains a State's sole public academic medical and dental school" (Manager's Amendment To H.R. 3590, Pg. 328).
Dodd spokesperson Bryan DeAngelis said 12/21 that ultimately HHS Sec. Kathleen Sebelius will make the decision on which state will receive the $100M.
"Senator Dodd pushed for this program in the hopes that the University of Connecticut would receive these funds, but there are at least 11 other states that also qualify," said DeAngelis. "Senator Dodd will do everything he can to make sure UCONN and Connecticut are at the top of the list."
But Ex-Rep./SEN candidate Rob Simmons (R) wasted no time in attacking Dodd for the $100M, as well as the larger health care bill.
In a release 12/21, Simmons called the hospital facility funds a "pork-barrel project" inserted in a "back-room deal." Simmons spokesperson Raj Shah could not say whether Simmons would oppose the funds if they were allocated to UCONN through the normal HHS process.
While this development could be concerning for the Dodd camp, the holiday season is always a great time to bury potentially damaging stories. Voters aren't concerned about pork-barrel projects at Christmas, they're concerned about their aunt's pork roast. The next few weeks of distracted media coverage will be a gift for politicians everywhere.
The politics of earmarks are always murky. Voters often say they oppose federal spending, but often cheer when they receive federal funds for their state. Also, the fact that HHS is ultimately in charge of the decision should shield Dodd from the brunt of the criticism.
And UCONN isn't exactly unpopular in CT. There's a lot of Husky alumni who would be thrilled to see their university's medical school awarded $100M.
Even though an extra $100M in the already-expensive health care bill isn't great optics for a senator supposedly concerned with fiscal responsibility, this appropriation is unlikely to damage the embattled Dodd further in his home state.
What could be a better use of tax payers` dollars than to spend on upgradation of an excellent medical center in the state of the connecticut, that is house to multiple top ranked physicians and researchers who are working tirelseelsy to serve the patients and also advance the cutting edge research in the fields ranging from cancer to neurological disorders?
arv
@arvind - Yeah, great reasoning, but why stop there?
Why not $100,000,000 for the medical centers in every state?
And why stop at just one per state?
Why not $1Billion per state to fund and upgrade 10 medical centers in each of the 50 states! It would only cost an extra $50,000,000,000 ($50Billion).
It is so fun to spend other people`s money!
WHAT?!?
Because JDH is a ridiculous facility that is an embarrassment to the area. It is hard to believe it is an "acadmic hub." Unless you want sports medicine therapy (for which it is okay), you had best get your sick self to any of the other area hospitals including Saint Francis, Hartford Hospital, Hospital of Central CT, Yale (in no particular order). I wouldn't be caught sick there under ANY circumstances (unless I want to be "caught dead.")
That hospital has a great marketing campaign and is propped up because of its relationship to UConn. If it had to stand on its own merits in ANY respect, it would be closed down.
It's all about politics there-- not good medicine.
-AS
The numbers have gotten so large, so outrageous that they have become almost unrealistic. I encourage everyone to look at this on a personal level. Assume you are a working family paying $30,000 in federal taxes annually. Your federal tax 'contributions' during the entirety of your life's work will represent approximately 1% of this cost. Think about it .. year after year of taxes you can scarcely afford .. that you can far better use for your own purposes .. casually spent with nothing more than the swipe of a pen.
These Democrats are traitors to the Union and should be assumed to be such in the future. By treating the wealth and resources of the electorate as their own makes them thieves. Remember their names.
I'm so happy that a wider layer of political corruption will be inserted between the patient and the health care provider more than exists already. It's wonderful having the value of a service or product so distorted by political regulation & corruption that we no longer know what it costs.
Can we vote more personal freedom away already?
Someone should give Dodd a taste of a Humvee's front grill...
Hey Arvind,
Judging from your comments, I'll bet you also think you're actually going to get free health care, Jim Morrison really didn't die in Paris, "low fat" also means "low calorie," and Obama is really, really, really serious about "deficit reduction."
Fool.
The real point here is why did Dodd put this in the bill and not Joe Lieberman. Lieberman held the country hostage for a week, and did he pull a Landrieu or a Nelson and win some dollars for his home state? No he didn't.
Guess it shows that he really is only about himself, and hopefully the media realizes this before they allow him to run his mouth on Sunday mornings.
And, for the record, UConn is no Yale-New Haven hospital, but it is a good hospital, and it's dentistry school is quite superb. That money will be split up, but UConn will get some of it.
Of the Saint Francis, Hartford Hospital, Hospital of Central CT, Yale, sure Uconn is not yale, but apart from yale is there any other institute that has can be regarded as a true national level academic as well as medical center? Saint Francis and Hartford hospital are private hospital that just want to make money and have noting to do with academics or basic research that is critical for advancing science/medical research. How many research publication both of those institutions comined can account for in last 5 years leave alone in last year in top ranked journals? Uconn may not be yale, but after yale thats the best state of conecticut has got.
Think aout how many jobs this investment will create for the area, and the benefit would be long term. I applaud the move.
Go Huskies!!!!! Go Uconn!!!! Go UCHC!!!!!!!
arv
Pure scum. Bribes and extortion. Thats how they passed this.If we do that, we go to jail. 100 Million for pork. 300 Million for Louisana. Medicaid payout to Nebraska. Ultimate result.... 3 GOP seats in the Senate for the GOP !!!
That $100 million can only be 40% of the total costs. It is not earmarked for CT so other states can get it. So we'd have to build a hospital for $250 million and the state would still cost $150 million the state would have to pay. A state that can't pay the bills now. Dodd should be history if the people of CT can get their priorities straight a get something other than tax and spend Dems in office.
In it something is. Clearly, many thanks for the information.
Do you have any doubt wallstreet firms are making billions in this year of economic distress, well I do not. However ridiculous it may sound (and to clarify, I DID NOT support their bailout on tax payer dollars) but that means more bonuses to employees and in turn more tax revenue for the state. So I see state`s tax revenues going up this year onward.
And, I watched yesterday that 0.5 percent sales tax reduction could mean extra cost of 120-130 million dollars to the state, I think in this tough state for the state I wont mind paying 7% tax and that would bring in ~250 million dollars. Dont you think that is worth spending for improving the quality of medical education and patient care in the state? And, not to mention, with improved grant fundings, UCHC can also bring in more money on its own.
arv
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