Most of this Pork is in the 2017 bonding bill!
Check out the story and why it's important to get the ridiculous spending out:List of Tens of Millions in Pork in 2017 Bonding Bill
Response from Legislators was not good:
$1.6 BILLION 2017 Bonding Bill. Legislators Say They Refuse to Cut Any Pork. Call to Action.
Also:
GOP Senate Passes $5.8 Billion Transportation Bill with $180 Million to Met Council & Mass Transit a Huge Raise
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The Bill is the BILLION dollar HF622. It is now the infamous bill that failed to pass in the final moments of the 2016 session. The list below includes just some of the items we feel are ridiculous pork items in the bonding bill that have no business being in any State funding bill. Let alone a bill that would come from republicans.
(correction: HF622 was not the bill the Governor recently almost signed. That bill was HF848)
we understand we need government spending. Roads, bridges, public safety, and all the functions of government included in our constitution... sure, you need to fund it. But parking ramps, dentist facilities, garden boards, sea lion exhibits, and little parks in cities we don't live in to name a few is insane... even for democrats who never say no.
Please review the list of things I am shocked came in this bill from our republican majority House... Given the fact they now took the Senate too perhaps they can take to their claim of being "fiscally responsible" and take a ton of this stuff out.
The 12 republicans who voted no on the final reading of the bill should be recognized for honoring their party's fiscal conservative campaign promise :
rep.sarah.anderson@house.mn
rep.mark.anderson@house.mn
rep.bob.barrett@house.mn
rep.matt.dean@house.mn (Washington County)
rep.steve.drazkowski@house.mn
rep.steve.green@house.mn
rep.dave.hancock@house.mn
rep.tim.kelly@house.mn
rep.kathy.lohmer@house.mn (Washington County)
rep.jenifer.loon@house.mn
rep.marion.oneill@house.mn
rep.nick.zerwas@house.mn
(there were 27 democrats who also voted no, perhaps for not enough spending)
Only 9 Republican senators voted no on the senate version of the bill:
sen.bruce.anderson@senate.mn
sen.david.brown@senate.mn
sen.roger.chamberlain@senate.mn (Washington County)
sen.karin.housley@senate.mn (washington County)
Dan D. Hall (56, R)
sen.david.hann@senate.mn
sen.eric.pratt@senate.mn
sen.warren.limmer@senate.mn
sen.dave.thompson@senate.mn
The numbers to the left of the item are the page you will find the item. in red are my comments
We hand out hundreds of millions to our colleges. They build ridiculous buildings and facilities with the money and sponsor outrageously expensive sports programs... and at the same time charge ungodly rates on tuition... Coincidentally the Government offers the loans and makes even more money on the credit card level of interest they charge! My wife and I's student loan payment is more than our mortgage payment!!!
2.10 Sec. 2. UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA $81,567,000
3.21 Sec. 3. MINNESOTA STATE COLLEGES $107,487,000
32.29 Subd. 8. St. Paul - Dorothy Day Opportunity Center for homeless people $12,000,000
YET there's only $5 million in funding for VA facilities for our vets.
Why is the unelected Met Council getting tens of millions to build more failed transit lines in omnibus funding? How about we fund these ridiculous white elephants like many road projects in dedicated bills with a floor vote.
27.8 Sec. 17. METROPOLITAN COUNCIL
27.12 Subd. 2. Metro Orange Line BRT $12,100,000
27.22 Subd. 3. Mall of America Station $8,750,000 For just ONE train stop!
37.32 Subd. 13. St. Paul - Science Museum of Minnesota Building Preservation $13,000,000 Why not raise the money from private donors like all the private owned museums do.
38.14 Subd. 14. St. Paul Port Authority - Minnesota Museum of American Art $6,000,000
28.24 Subd. 5. St. Paul - Como Zoo $12,000,000 for fancy new sea lion exhibit
18.25 $4,000,000 To the Minnesota Zoological Garden Board
Why is government in the business of funding airports? If anything the local tax payers... not the entire State should be paying for their failed airports that can't apparently earn the money themselves.
52.29 (1) $4,985,000 for a grant to the city of Rochester for their Airport,
53.35 (2) $5,900,000 for the Duluth International and Sky Harbor Airports
25.25 Koochiching County Airport Commission $3,000,000
35.7 Subd. 5. Bemidji - Regional Dental Facility $4,500,000
35.20 Subd. 6. Hennepin County Center for the Arts $5,000,000
36.14 Subd. 9. Minneapolis - Norway House Event Center $5,000,000 These cities and counties should pay for their own unneeded crap
37.4 Subd. 11. Red Wing - River Town Renaissance Area $4,480,000
77.7 Subd. 6. Inver Grove Heights - Heritage Village Park $2,000,000
77.27 Subd. 12. West St. Paul - North Urban River Pedestrian Bridge $2,000,000
26.25 Subd. 9. Grand Rapids Pedestrian Bridge $750,000
20.16 Subd. 6. Granite Falls - Pioneer Public Television $1,950,000
19.33 Subd. 3. Centennial Parking Ramp at the capital $10,878,000
12.27 Subd. 6. Trail Development $11,490,000 Seriously look at the list of trails. they are trails from nowhere to nowhere mostly. Let the cities and counties build them if they want them so bad
15.12 Subd. 5. $9,250,000 for Polk County to complete a "regional integrated solid waste management system."
Not to mention the fact they are extremely harmful to the environment:
