'The Kentucky Kickback'-Turns Out Getting Support Of Sen McConnell Didn't Come For Free

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6:50 pm

'The Kentucky Kickback'

Turns out getting the support of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) didn’t come for free. There’s an earmark in the Senate bill that increases the funding for the Olmsted Locks and Dam in Kentucky — a concession SenateConservatives.com has termed “The Kentucky Kickback.”

On first glance, the earmark language looks inoffensive enough:

SEC. 123. Section 3(a)(6) of Public Law 100–676 is amended by striking both occurrences of ‘‘$775,000,000’’ and inserting in lieu thereof, ‘‘$2,918,000,000’’

But when you dig just a little bit deeper, it turns out that Public Law 100–676 is a provision in the Water Resources Development Act of 1988 that funds Olmsted, and that this new provision would increase the cap on construction spending there by $1.2 billion, giving relief to what’s become a cash-strapped project.

All signs indicate that this was a private concession made to McConnell to get him on board with the bill.


The Final Bill
SHARE For anyone interested in looking over all the details, here is the final text of the bill that the Senate and House are expected to pass tonight.

MORE:
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2013/10/15/2779001/debt-ceiling-shutdown-liveblog/