No earmarks in Porkulus, eh?

"Dingy" Harry Reid is telling his constituents that he has secured Porkulus money for a LA-2-LasVegas high-speed gambling train.

 

In 1997, Amtrak had a similar route.  It failed

 

A private company is currently building such a route using private money.

 

Reid will kill off this private effort.  I believe this shows that he's a dirty player.

 

This information comes from the Senate Conservative Fund which is chaired by US Senator Jim DeMint.

 

Here is the link to the story:

 

Just two days after President Obama told the American people the economic stimulus bill will have "no earmarks", the Associated Press reports that Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nevada) is telling his constituents in Nevada that he has personally worked out a deal as part of the House-Senate conference committee to get them money for a high-speed gambling train.

In late-stage talks, Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., pressed for $8 billion to construct high-speed rail lines, quadrupling the amount in the bill that passed the Senate on Tuesday. Reid's office issued a statement noting that a proposed Los Angeles-to-Las Vegas rail might get a big chunk of the money.

This of course exposes the little game the President is playing with the public. He tells everyone there are no earmarks in the bill but then turns around and either (a) gives the money to the states, which he knows will fund the earmarks, or (b) instructs his agencies to fund the earmarks directly. It's all very clever, if not deceptive.

Reid's high-speed gambling train not only violates the President's guiding principles for this bill, it also violates American taxpayers.