Tag: taxes

9 Crazy Examples of Waste, Unrelated Pet Projects Snuck into Massive Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill

When President Biden first unveiled his $2+ trillion proposal for an infrastructure spending package, he was widely ridiculed for stretching the meaning of the word “infrastructure” far past its breaking point. The legislation snuck in climate change policy, billions for woke diversity initiatives, massive funding for public schools, and much more under creatively deceptive guises such as “human infrastructure.” Thankfully, this package didn’t get far.

However, more feasible efforts continue from a bipartisan group of senators seeking to pass a $1 trillion infrastructure compromise package. This legislative effort does, in fairness, stay much closer to the traditionally understood definition of infrastructure with its funding for roads, bridges, and more. Yet even this supposedly moderate, reasonable bill is 2,702 pages in length, leaving ample room for lobbyists and individual politicians to slip in wasteful items and crony pet projects.

Here are nine examples of seemingly unrelated, wasteful, or otherwise dubious spending programs snuck into the thousands of pages of legislative text.

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Sobriety for dollars: California lawmakers move to pay meth addicts to stay clean

California lawmakers are closer to sending Gov. Gavin Newsom legislation that would offer money for people addicted to methamphetamines to stay in treatment.

Senate Bill 110 would make contingency management, a therapy centered around positive reinforcement, a legal form of treatment in California that would be paid for by Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program.

In the case of people suffering from meth addictions, they would be given incentives to attend treatment or pass drug tests.

Sen. Scott Weiner (D-San Francisco) said in June that President Joe Biden’s administration is seeking evidence-based solutions to the nation’s drug crisis.

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San Francisco Homeless Camp Costs $60,000 Per Tent, Per Year

The news comes as San Francisco mulls renewing the program, which could cost about $57,000 per tent. There are currently about 260 tents, the report notes.

The city is paying “about twice the median cost of a one-bedroom apartment for each tent”, the report says. And the encampment is being funded by a 2018 business tax known as Proposition C. 

The city is expecting to spend more than $1 billion over the next two years on homelessness. Mayor Breed calls it a “historic investment,” according to the SF Chronicle. 

Supervisor Hillary Ronen said at a budget meeting: “It is a big deal to have showers and bathrooms, and I don’t dispute that. But the cost just doesn’t make any sense.”

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