April 2nd, 2007 at 10:42 pm
Taking my own suggestion I’m looking at H.R. 1591, to see what might have been introduced to buy a vote as per Representative Charlie Rangel (D-NY).
The bill was closed to amendments on March 22, at 1:04am, by House Resolution 261. The bill came straight out of the Appropriations committee. This makes the job a little tougher because the bill text has to be examined directly now.
The total cost of the bill is $124 billion and some change.
Title I of the the bill is “Supplemental Appropriations for the Global War on Terror.” I did some sampling and didn’t seem much directed toward a particular state.
Title II is “Additional Hurricane Disaster Relief and Recovery”
$4.31 billion goes to the Disaster Relief Fund to help 372,000 still affected by Katrina.
Funds totaling $1,300,000,000 are provided to continue repairs and accelerate completion of flood and storm damage reduction projects in the greater New Orleans area. These projects are to be funded at full Federal expense.
Title III is “Agricultural Assistance”
$60.4 million for California and Oregon in relief for the Klamath Falls salmon fishery failure.
The rest of the bill is hard to tie down to a specific state, but here are some notables:
$969 million to prepare for an influenza pandemic.
$750 million for state children’s insurance shortfalls.
$800 million in low-income home energy state grants.
$967 million for diplomatic and consular efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, and others. I hadn’t realized diplomats were so expensive.
So if one has to make a quick statement, it would seem like the Gulf Coast votes came at a price. Representative Obey’s committee did a fine job hiding vote purchases. 
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