A Microcosm of Government Spending
Pennsylvania Senators Fetterman and McCormick have submitted a bill that the DOGE boys will likely cite under “waste, fraud and abuse”. A companion bill is offered in the House by Pennsylvania Representatives Chrissy Houlahan (D-6) and Dan Meuser (R-9).
Obviously, this is a bipartisan bill, and it would be great for Pennsylvania mushroom farmers.
For those of you who haven’t been engaged in politics for a long time, this is the sort of bill that used to pass1 all the time without any problems. It is a bill that has local ramifications, and while it’s a huge deal to the local area, most other Senators and Reps wouldn’t care that much. However, THEY would have something that would benefit THEIR state/district, and there would be a “you scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours” agreement, and GOOD BILLS would pass without issue2. That was back when elected officials worked together for the good of the people.
From the press release:
The bill would require the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to conduct a study on offering federally-backed crop insurance specifically for mushroom farms, which face threats like inclement weather or pests uniquely harmful to mushrooms. Upon the completion of a study showing the efficacy of a new crop insurance product, the USDA has the authority to begin offering it immediately to farmers.
Why is this a local issue? Because more than 60% of all mushrooms in the United States come from Kennett Square, PA, and the surrounding areas. Not only is it a huge economic impact in terms of jobs and monies for the local area3, but face it, that’s a lot of mushrooms.
I’m aware that some people love mushrooms, and some people won’t eat them, but enough people do eat them that it would be a very bad thing if the Mushroom Phorid fly, or the Mushroom Sciarid Fly, or fungal-specific pathogens ruined all the mushroom crops.
Therefore, I’ve presented this one bill4 to provide a small example of what government tax dollars can do: for workers, for the industry, for the economy, and not to mention for all those people who want to eat safe mushrooms.
It’s one of literally hundreds of thousands of small projects that have a big impact. I want the lead out of the water in Clarksburg, WV, even though I’ve never been there, because I know the damage lead can cause to kids. DOGE killed it. Here are just a few more programs, PASSED BY CONGRESS WITH ALLOCATED FUNDS, killed by the DOGE imbeciles.
Local projects MATTER, and we need to do all we can to make sure that Congress passes them, funds them, and then Congress should SUE DOGE because it’s not legally their place to cut allocated funds for enacted programs5.
This particular bill would actually become a line item in the Farm Bill.
Misanthropes called this “pork”, but all politics is local.
Over 10,000 direct jobs, plus $3 Billion to the local economy.
I actually don’t know why Congress HASN’T sued. They certainly have standing.
I remember in the '60s working at Pirro's - my hand-spinning pizza job in San Francisco - and once a year, mushrooms were almost non-existent because of reseeding the beds in Kennett Square. At the time, Pennsylvania was our only source of mushrooms.
My dream tonight would be for every Democrat to show up - and the minute Vice President Vonshitzinpants walked in - they would walk out and hold the REAL State of the Union Address on the steps of the Capitol.
Alas, they won't, because they still think times are normal and decorum rules the day. Back when I was in the Navy, the adage was "You don’t have to respect the person, but you respect the uniform." I didn't believe it then, either.
Congress hasn't sued because der Fuehrer dictates "Nein"!