My Little Donkey

The US government is about to spend $700 million on wild horse contraception and management. Yes, really. Powerline and HotAir have hit on this already, but it’s worth beating this dead horse a bit more. A bill being put forward by Rep. Raul Grijalva D-Ariz. and Rep. Nick Rahall D-W.Va. named the Restore Our American Mustangs Act has wasteful spending opponents’ jaws dropping, and given the ridiculous amount of wasteful spending we’ve seen this year, that’s no small accomplishment.

The bill calls for 19 million more acres of land for wild horses, contraception to be introduced for the herds, money to repair land destroyed by herds, a horse census to be taken every two years, plus increased funding for the National Glue Makers Association.

Republicans haven’t held back in their response to the bill. “There are serious issues facing our country right now and it’s absurd that Democrat leaders believe that spending $700 million to pamper wild horses is the best use of our time and Americans’ tax dollars,’ said Resource Committee Ranking Member Doc Hastings. “Instead of restoring American mustangs, let’s restore American jobs and put the horsepower back into our economy.”

Bad puns aside, this sounds like a sane assessment of our national budgeting priorities, something Democrats seem unable to grasp.

Some commenters on a watchdog website named WashingtonWatch.com disagree with opponents and voice strong support for the bill,

“This is a great bill that will ensure the future of our wild horse and burros, icon’s [sic] of our western cultural hertiage [sic]. It would force the BLM to use science in making decisions and expand the stockman biased Wild Horse Advisory Board to include humane organizations and Phd scientists to advise on management.”
Or
“The bill is excellent and includes pretty much everything that advocates have asked for. The AHDF strongly supports this bill and hopes that other groups will too once they understand the true meaning of the bill.”
Or
“H.R.1018 and one equal to it in the Senate must be passed now before OUR wild horses are extict [sic]. This bill WILL protect and preserve them. Some just do not understand.”

Oh yeah, trust me, we understand. We understand what’s conveniently missing from any of these quotes; the freaking cost. The $700 million freaking cost. This whole discussion reminds me of my little sister obsessing over horses for three years, usually culminating with a tearful Christmas plea for a pony. She was 11 years old and didn’t understand, or care, how much it would cost.

It’s not a bad way to frame the debate. Republicans are the rational parents, and Democrats are 11 year old girls hyperventilating after yet another emotional screening of Black Beauty. Maybe if we bought them a My Little Pony toy they’d drop the whole thing.

But just to hammer the wasteful spending point home, here’s a list of better things we could do with $700 million.

• We could buy 4,666 up armored humvees at $150,000 each.
• We could buy 70,000,000 mosquito nets to combat malaria which kills 1 million people each year.
• We could buy anti-viral AIDS drugs for up to 2,000,000 people this year.

Or in terms the average person can relate to we could buy 1400 $500,000 houses, 2,333,333 meals from Obama’s favorite restaurant, or 116,666,666 copies of Black Beauty.

If Democrats want to prove at least a marginal commitment to responsible spending during this economic crisis, it’s essential they send this bill to the glue factory.

PS Plus some Rolling Stones:

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