SUBMITTED NEWS RELEASE
In the face of the worst recession since the Great Depression, where has the money from Harry Reid’s stimulus bill gone to help our ailing economy? Cocaine-addled monkeys and a million dollars worth of exotic ants, according to a new report out this morning.
“Harry Reid says ‘no one can do more’ for Nevada. We had no idea Harry’s plan of ‘more’ meant spending millions on coked-up monkeys and exotic ants while our state is ravaged by the worst foreclosure rate and highest unemployment rate in the nation,” said Jerry Stacy, spokesman for U.S. Senatorial Candidate Sharron Angle.
Other examples of how the stimulus has squandered taxpayer dollars include $750,000 toward creating a YouTube-like computerized dance choreography program $300,000 to study the effects of “integral yoga” upon hot flashes and $60,000 to study public perception of stimulus spending.
“Harry Reid promised his $787 billion stimulus bill would create jobs. Instead of creating jobs, this wasteful bill has piled on ‘more’ massive debt and ‘more’ unemployment in Nevada since the bill’s passage,” Stacy said. “Nevada needs a senator who will fight for economic policies that fosters an environment which encourages real job creation and gets Nevada moving again. That’s Sharron Angle.”
A New Report Out This Morning Highlights The Massive Amounts Of Waste In Harry Reid’s Stimulus Bill
● $71,623 To Study How Monkeys Are Affected By Cocaine. “The Coburn-McCain report takes issue with stimulus spending on projects like one that entailed research on how cocaine affects monkeys. The Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center was awarded $71,623 to study what the report calls, ‘Monkeys Getting High for Science.’” (Jonathan Karl, Matthew Jaffe and Gregory Simmons, “Stimulus Slammed: Republican Senators Release Report Alleging Waste,” ABC News, www.abcnews.go.co, 8/3/10)
● $1 Million On A Grant To Study Ants In The Indian Ocean Islands And East Africa. “Go a little further down the list and you’ll find even bigger spending. The California Academy of Sciences is receiving nearly $1 million in stimulus funds to send researchers to the Southwest Indian Ocean Islands and East Africa to capture, photograph and analyze thousands of exotic ants.” (Jonathan Karl, Matthew Jaffe, and Gregory Simmons, “Stimulus Slammed: Republican Senators Release Report Alleging Waste,” ABC News, www.abcnews.go.co, 8/3/10)
● $300,000 To Study Yoga And Hot Flashes. “There’s also funding for yoga and hot flashes. Researchers at Wake Forest University have received nearly $300,000 to study whether integral yoga ‘can be an effective method to reduce the frequency and/or severity of hot flashes’ in breast cancer survivors.” (Jonathan Karl, Matthew Jaffe and Gregory Simmons, “Stimulus Slammed: Republican Senators Release Report Alleging Waste,” ABC News, www.abcnews.go.co, 8/3/10)
● “The U.S. Forest Service Is Spending More Than $554,000 To Replace Windows At A Visitors Center For Mt. St. Helens That Has Been Closed.” (Eamon Javers, “GOP Report Points To Stimulus Money Gone Awry,” CNBC, www.cnbc.com, 8/3/10)
● “The University Of North Carolina At Charlotte Received More Than $750,000 To Help Develop A Computerized Choreography Program That Its Creators Believe Could Lead To A Youtube-Like ‘Dance Tube’ Online Application.” (Eamon Javers, “GOP Report Points To Stimulus Money Gone Awry,” CNBC, www.cnbc.com, 8/3/10)
● “The Town Of Boynton, Oklahoma, Was Awarded Nearly $90,000 To Replace A Quarter-Mile Stretch Of Sidewalk That Was Replaced Only Five Years Ago.” (Eamon Javers, “GOP Report Points To Stimulus Money Gone Awry,” CNBC, www.cnbc.com, 8/3/10)
● “The National Science Foundation Shelled Out Nearly $60,000 In Stimulus Dollars To Study People’s Perceptions Of Federal Stimulus Spending.” (Eamon Javers, “GOP Report Points To Stimulus Money Gone Awry,” CNBC, www.cnbc.com, 8/3/10)
Harry Reid Promised The Stimulus Bill Would Create Jobs
Reid Urged His Fellow Senators To Support The Stimulus Bill And Said It Was Something That They “Must Do.” Reid: “[I] urge my colleagues, both Democrats and Republicans, to dedicate this day to responsibly passing this legislation and sending it to the president so we can say we have marched down that road, that road to economic recovery. There is no perfect solution to what we are attempting. There is no book you can check out of the library to say this is what should be done. There is no group of economists we can go to and tell them to prepare a paper in the next couple of hours to give us direction as to what to do. We must do this on our own, and we will do this on our own.” (CNN’s, “Newsroom,” 2/6/09)
In A Press Release After The Stimulus Passed, Reid’s Office Boasted That It Would Create 34,000 Nevada Jobs. “Nevada Senator Harry Reid announced today that Nevada will receive more than $1 billion for transportation and modernization projects, investments in renewable energy and education and assistance for the unemployed as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Through investments including $250 million in local transportation projects, these federal dollars will create 34,000 Nevada jobs, cut taxes for the middle class, sustain endangered state services and invest in Nevada’s future. The bill passed the House of Representatives earlier today and is now up for a vote in the Senate.” (Senator Harry Reid Press Release, http://reid.senate.gov/pr_021309_nvrecoverypkg.cfm, Posted 2/13/09)
Unemployment In Nevada Was 10.1% When The Stimulus Passed In February 2009. (U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics Website, www.bls.gov, Accessed 3/4/10)
Unemployment In Nevada Currently Stands At 14.2 percent. (U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics Website, www.bls.gov, Accessed 8/3/10)
