Essential Spending (UPDATED)

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Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today released the following statement on the Trump Administration's recent decision to freeze all federal grants:

“Congress approved these investments and they are not optional; they are the law. These grants help people in red states and blue states, support families, help parents raise kids, and lead to stronger communities.

“Donald Trump’s Administration is jeopardizing billions upon billions of community grants and financial support that help millions of people across the country. It will mean missed payrolls and rent payments and everything in between: chaos for everything from universities to non-profit charities.”

Schumer’s talking about all those federal grants dreamed up by individual congressmen and senators for the benefit of their campaign donors and future employers and slipped into 1,780-page continuing resolution spending packages read by no one and passed by huge majorities.

Spending like this, discovered by PJ Media’s Stephen Green testing out a new database search tool for federal spending:

I thought, "What is the most boring thing in the world and how much taxpayer money is Washington giving away on it this year?"

"Yarn," I immediately decided. "Yarn is the most boring thing in the world." To me, that is — knitters, please take no offense. I'm sure you'd find my collection of Polish LEGO-knockoff WWII warships boring as heck, too. 

As it turned out, Americans — unbeknownst to 99.99% of us, I'm sure — will spend $16,500,001 on three yarn-related projects this year. The bulk of it, an even $15 million, went to something called The Industrial Commons on NSF engines.

UPDATE: Turns out, we’ve also been sending Schumer Simoleons to left-wing journalists opposing Hungary’s conservative government.