Money for Nothing

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George Bush may have broken his "no new taxes" pledge, but at least he got a deficit reduction package, right? Well, not exactly. The Heritage Foundation reports that the government will spend $1.75 for each new dollar of taxes in the budget accord. By now, most people know that the package includes $500,000 for a Lawrence Welk museum, but negotiators failed to cut many other questionable programs.

  • $100,000 to study the sand on Waikiki beach
  • $100,000 to develop soybean ink
  • $1.95 million for Philadelphia's New Freedom Theater
  • $1.7 million for a bee lab
  • $2.7 million for a fish farm in Arkansas
  • $3.4 million for shrimp aquaculture
  • $3.6 million for urban gardening
  • $4.4 million for a navigation project at Redondo Beach, California
  • $5.1 million to fight witchweed
  • $34.3 million for a flood-control project in Phoenix

Source: Heritage Foundation

This article originally appeared in print under the headline "Money for Nothing."