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You Can’t Spell National Defense w/o a Harriet Tubman Park
Posted By Daniel Greenfield On December 7, 2014 @ 10:37 am In The Point | 7 Comments
Yes I know this is business as usual, but maybe we really need to stop business as usual. Congressional Republicans had tried to brand themselves as being anti-pork and this is exactly the kind of behavior that people hate Congress for.
Since the New York Post is local, its focus is mainly on locally branded pork, in this case assorted politically correct memorials and museums, which should have been legitimately budgeted, instead of being smuggled through in national defense.
Just in time for Christmas, a massive $577 billion defense-authorization bill headed for a vote in the Senate next week is packed with goodies that have nothing to do with national security.
One provision pushes forward a National Women’s History Museum in Washington, DC — long advocated by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan). Also tucked in the bill are pet projects that would establish a Harriet Tubman national historic park in Auburn, NY, and study the creation of federal historic sites in Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan.
In all, more than a quarter of the 1,648-page defense bill is dedicated to federal land-use projects, angering some conservatives upset that a critical defense bill is slathered with pork projects.
Rep. Grace Meng (D-Queens) led passage of legislation in the House for the $250,000 study of the John Bowne House and the Old Quaker Meetinghouse, but it didn’t gain traction in the Senate.
Separately, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn) pushed through legislation for a $150,000 study to add the Prison Ship Martyrs’ Monument in Brooklyn to the national park system.
Another provision would establish two National Historical Park sites to honor Harriet Tubman, one in Auburn and another in Maryland. The cost is estimated at $12 million over five years.
To add insult to injury this is happening just when…
1. The military has been painfully cut hurting veterans and our national security
2. We’re facing major threats
We need to upgrade our national defense. We need to take care of our veterans. Instead this administration has slashed health care for veterans while its Congressmen spend the money on more historic pork.
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