Meanwhile, back at the Pork Farm

Senators Schumer and Clinton voted against CAFTA.

They did this despite knowing, as Democratic House member Henry Cuellar told Kudlow and Company, that:

CAFTA free trade will bolster Central American and Carribean economies, strengthen democracy, bind those nations closer to the US, and reduce the flow of immigration.

Cuellar didn’t even mention the phasing out of 60% duties on US produced goods exported to Central America.

Senators Schumer and Clinton may simply have been distracted from the CAFTA “we win-you win” opportunity by a “we win-you lose” election tactic closer to home.

After voting against poor people in Central America and blue collar workers in the US, the Disingenuous Duo turned to gloating about the amount of money they ripped off from the taxpayers in the other 49 states.

As The New York Sun reports:

“We’re giddy with excitement because we’ve done so well for New York,” said Senator Schumer, who indeed appeared deliriously pleased as he briefed reporters on the legislation allocating federal funds for highway and transit programs over the next five years. “They said it couldn’t be done, but we’ve actually gotten more funding in the bill and lots of special projects,” he said.

Senator Clinton called the measure “a tremendous, tremendous win for New York.”

Emphasis mine. Parsing “we’ve actually gotten more funding” is left to the reader.

To the victors in transportation funding go the spoils.
Some states are winners and some are losers. Hell of a way to run a national government.

Why do we agree to send our taxes to Washington in exchange for participation in a crap-shoot? Even in perfect lobbying equity we receive our money back at a discount.

Schumer and Clinton object to Central America’s poor benefiting from free trade; and they don’t want American exports to Central America to see a 60% reduction in tariffs.

Meanwhile, they celebrate stealing your money for New York (identifying the philosophical thread that leads to these positions is left to the reader – hint, “ability” and “need”):

One of the largest and most notable New York projects in the bill is $100 million to fund studies and design for the proposed Cross Harbor Rail Freight Tunnel, which would stretch from Brooklyn to New Jersey. The inclusion of money for the tunnel was a personal victory for Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat of New York, who has long been pushing for the project.

Mr. Nadler said the rail tunnel would help prevent area highways from being completely gridlocked as traffic increases over the next decade. “Without the tunnel, it’ll be totally jammed.”

Hershblogger to Nadler: New York gridlock is OK with me. If New York can’t cope with New York’s problems, why am I expected to?

Apparently it never occurred to Mr. Nadler that gridlock is a natural consequence of providing incentives for too many people to live in a small area. A 5 hour commute might just solve that gridlock problem. It would at least align risks with benefits.

Bailing New York out of a traffic jam is not the responsibility of taxpayers in other states.

Supporters of public broadcasting should note that being forced to fund the New York City Transit Authority is not different from being forced to fund NPR. It’s a package. If you like forcing others to pay for NPR, then I commend your obvious enjoyment of funding NYC public transit.