What Got Cut ...

Politicians love one-liners. And Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska had a doozy after a group of senators reached a compromise on the economic stimulus package on Friday.

But it's a little long to fit onto a bumper sticker.

After the senators reached their compromise, Nelson said, "We trimmed the fat, fried the bacon and milked the sacred cows."

Clever, huh?

So, will someone tell me under which category — trimmed fat, fried bacon or sacred cows — the following belong?

• $100 million for distance learning (eliminated)


• $98 million for school nutrition (eliminated)


• $1 billion for Head Start/Early Start (eliminated)


• $16 billion for school construction (eliminated)


• $3.5 billion for higher education construction (eliminated)


• $200 million from Environmental Protection Agency Superfund (original bill $800 million)


• $3.5 billion for energy-efficient federal buildings (original bill $7 billion)


• $100 million from FBI construction (original bill $400 million)


• $300 million for federal prisons (eliminated)


• $10 million for state and local law enforcement (eliminated)


• $200 million for National Science Foundation (eliminated)


• $100 million for science (eliminated)


• $300 million from federal fleet of hybrid vehicles (original bill $600 million)


• $50 million from Department of Homeland Security (eliminated)

There's a lot more. You can read about it here.

I understand that the package is costly. And, in something of this magnitude, it is unavoidable that pet projects are going to get some of the funds. But we're also having to pay for some long-term investments. Some of the benefits will be years in the making. These investments are long overdue. And they are not quick fixes. We're coaxing some seeds to grow, and you can't do that if the plant food is cut. It will take awhile for us to see the benefits.

For example, isn't it important for our children to be assured they're going to schools that will not cave in around them? How does that qualify as fat, pork or a sacred cow? And growing children need nutritious meals. Schools can do little about most of the meals a child eats, but they can have a great influence on a child's mid-day meals. Under which of Nelson's categories does the funding for school nutrition belong?

Likewise, isn't it a good idea for the federal government to invest in hybrid vehicles? The feds travel in vehicles that are purchased with taxpayer funds. If we're going to reduce our nation's dependence on foreign oil (which we should have been doing decades ago — but that is another discussion), isn't the federal government a good place to start? And why cut the funding for energy efficiency in federal office buildings?

What about funding for science? That money could help pay some of the brightest people to do important research that can benefit the nation in many ways — maybe not immediately but those benefits may come in ways we can't anticipate. And important scientific discoveries don't tend to follow logical or even convenient time schedules.

Prisons are overcrowded in this country. Why eliminate the funds that were earmarked for federal prisons? Of course, funding for FBI construction was severely cut as well. So was funding that was designated for state and local law enforcement. All of that might be justified if the feds were going to give up enforcement of something that has repeatedly proven to be unenforceable over the years, like the war on drugs. But billions continue to be spent on enforcement. Where are we supposed to put these violators?

It seems to me that some of the cuts make sense, but many of them don't.

And the part that makes the least sense is the unconscionable delay in passing this package.

I'm sure President Obama will devote a lot of time to this subject during his first presidential press conference on Monday (8 p.m. Eastern). I'm equally certain he will urge the American people to put pressure on their senators to pass this package on Tuesday — when a vote is anticipated.

Don't wait for the president to tell you to do so. Take matters into your own hands right now. Go to the U.S. Senate's website. Find your senators on the site. Send them e-mails. Send telegrams to their Washington offices. Call them.

Tell them they can't wait any longer. Tell them they must act immediately.

I've already sent e-mails to my own senators, as well as to others who are reported to be straddling the fence. You don't have to do that much. Just contact your own senators.

We are the people. They have to listen to us.

Don't they?

P.S. to my readers: Since this was posted, it has been mentioned on the Wall Street Journal's website as one of the blog articles discussing the compromise.