By: Mark Glennon*
Playing Santa is a year-round gig for federal lawmakers and so is the regifting by local government.
Illinois’ public and private sectors have already received over $191 billion in “pandemic relief” with more than $4 billion yet to come, according to the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Budget, which tracks that spending by state.
And now Congress has loosened some strings on how that money can be spent and included at least $15 billion of earmarks for pet projects in the new, $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill.
Announcements come at least weekly from the State of Illinois for new spending made possible, directly or indirectly, by federal money.
For example, earlier this month $350 million was announced for the state to play lender, venture capital investor and “Climate Finance Bank” for small businesses. The money will come from the ARPA, the federal American Rescue Plan Act.
That particular kind of spending is like a bad rash that always comes back. Politicians like playing the role of innovative investors, but their programs rarely work. It’s among the first topics we wrote about regularly here at Wirepoints, as here from eight years ago.
Also this month, the state announced $37 million for five innovation hubs. That money actually is coming from the state’s Rebuild Illinois Capital program, which supposedly was for infrastructure, and was financed by regressive new or higher taxes on things like parking garages, vehicle titles and gasoline taxes (which will increase again on January 1). But wait, there’s also $500 million for innovation hubs in the new federal $1.7 trillion plan that came to light last week. Whatever.
At least Congress is starting to drop the pretense of ARPA money being “pandemic relief” and directly authorizing that it’s in fact part of a movement toward mass federalization — bailing out failing states and neutralizing competitive ones. The new spending plan amends ARPA to loosen a previous requirement that ARPA money not be used simply to swap out federal money for state money in existing state and local spending programs.
Our lawmakers are quite proud of all the cash being handed out. Here’s Senator Dick Durbin’s glitzy video on Twitter boasting about the new earmarks coming to Illinois in the new spending plan.
This omnibus package makes significant investments in the future of Illinois. It will help localities in IL launch infrastructure projects, improve access to health care, advance environmental conservation, strengthen community violence prevention initiatives, and much more. pic.twitter.com/54C66QYGnW
— Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) December 22, 2022
The video says Illinois earmarks total $182 million but other reports say they total $560 million. Oops. Then again, you can’t blame Durbin for not knowing what all is in the 4,000-page bill. Nobody does.
In all, the new omnibus spending bill includes an estimated 7,200 earmarks costing $15 billion for lawmakers around the country to dazzle their voters with.
You gotta love this headline we posted this week: “Most of Illinoisans received income, property tax rebates thanks to Illinois Senate Democrats.” Who wrote that? Why, Illinois Senate Democrats, of course. They figure you should be happy with the money they kicked back, just before the election, though it was at most a couple hundred bucks out of the thousands they take annually from most taxpayers and was enabled by federal largesse.
All this is inflationary, of course. Ignore politicians who blame inflation on high oil prices caused by the Ukraine war. Oil prices have been below pre-war levels since August.
Don’t be too partisan about this, however. Many Congressional Republicans voted for most of the federal “pandemic relief. Eighteen Republican Senator and nine House members voted along with all but two Democratic House members to pass the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill that’s now going to President Biden for signature.
It’s safe to assume the spenders figure their voters are like kids on Christmas morning thrilled by gifts. They’re free, right, kids? Thanks, Santa.
*Mark Glennon is founder of Wirepoints.
Updated 12-24-22 to delete a quote from former state Sen. Scott Bennett, who recently passed away unexpectedly. My condolences to his family and friends.
Didn’t Bennett pass away recently? His wife is serving the remainder of his term.
Thanks for calling that to my attention. I had not realized the connection to those earlier stories so I have deleted the quote and reference to him. My apologies.
ONLY THING THIS MONEY WILL HELP IS THEIR POCKETS……..THE HELPLESS AND THE POOR WILL STILL BE HELPLESS AND POOR
That means it’s working.
as usual $1.7 trillion budget isn’t cbo scored, so nobody knows how it will add to $31 trillion national deficit or inflation??…..seems just like springfield on an epic scale
Accept “federal $” at your peril…
Once you accept their version of “crack cocaine” they own you…
It’s like selling your soul to the devil…
All you have to do is lower your speed limit to 55 and you can have all this money.
what the heck is a “Climate Finance Bank”? I have a feeling it’s just another opportunity for graft.
If there’s a 2nd Civil War it may be sparked by the constant taxing of Red States to keep the gig going in places like Illinois and Chicago.
This is a topic you won’t see covered in the MSM. Many blue areas have become defacto wards of the federal government and rely on handouts from dems. They actually are net takers and contribute nothing to society except evils such as crime, Sanctuary cities……
We will have a column up in the coming week on political reasons for interstate migration, which has not gotten the attention it deserves.
Most conservative pundits screams at us to leave the blue states for red states. There’s even an argument that a several hundred thousand of us moving to purple states like WI, PA, GA, AZ, and turning them red, would win us every presidential election for a generation. I’ve got my eyes set on WI personally.
I’m thinking the UP of Michigan near Menominee. I’ll be back in the state I was born in but nowhere near Detroit or Chicago.
The Democrat Party Racketeers are looting the country to fund the destruction of all that is good and decent in America. Tax hard working families to coddle society’s criminal class.