Money, meet Mouth. Mouth, Money

U.S. adds $20 million to emergency relief fund

Rejecting a U.N. official's suggestion that it had been a "stingy" aid donor, the Bush administration yesterday announced $20 million more in relief for victims of the Asian earthquake and tsunamis and dispatched an aircraft carrier and other ships to the region for possible relief operations.

The announcement brought the United States' total aid package to $35 million so far, and Bush administration officials said that much more would be sent.

A small list of items that cost more than $35 million.

$135 million - Bush's proposal for abstinence only education for FY2002, a $33 million increase over FY2001.

$240 million - Bush's proposal for 2005 for states grants to promote marriages and limit out-of-wedlock births. The proposal also includes $120 million to research and pilot programs on marriage promotion, and $50 million to "promote responsible fatherhood."

$177 million - Cost of one day of the war in Iraq.

$60 billion - CBO's estimate of the cost of the current "Star Wars" missile defense system.

$140 billion - The additional cost of Bush's Medicare "Reform" as announced after it's passage, bringing the total cost of the program to $540 billion over ten years.

$340 million - Proposed spending in 2005 for US-VISIT, a program to check foreign visitors arriving with visas at U.S. airports and seaports against terrorist watch lists.

$2.1 billion - Proposed spending increase to tighten security on our border with Canada.

$98 million - Bush's 2003 proposal to train a Colombian military brigade to protect a U.S. oil pipeline from narco-guerillas.

$1 billion - Bush's proposal for 2002 for the construction of new Federal Bureau of Prisons facilities.

$27.4 million - Overcharges for meals served to American troops at five military bases by Halliburton.

$61 million - Overcharges for fuel delivered to the Army in Iraq by Halliburton.

$451 billion - Bush's proposal for military spending by 2007.

$500 million - Extra Medicare payments this year to HMOs and other private health plans in an effort to persuade them to enter the Medicare market and increase benefits for the elderly.

$200 million - Each for Lockhead's costly and unnecessary F-22 “Raptor” jets, totaling $3.6 billion awarded this year.

$1.5 billion - Approved this year for Boeing's V-22 “Osprey", which then-Defense Secretary Cheney opposed in the first Bush Administration.

$318 billion - Cost of the interest to service the 7 plus trillion dollar debt in 2003.

$1.08 trillion - Cost of Bush tax cuts for the top 1%, total 2001-10, if made permanent.

$1.9 trillion - Ten year cost, with sunsets, for the total of Bush's tax cuts.


0.0000714% - Percentage that $35 million represents of the US 2003 GDP.