Tucked-In Goodies Make Bad Budget Deal Even Worse

Tucked-In Goodies Make Bad Budget Deal Even Worse - Investors.com:

Among other provisions, this "clean" debt bill:

• Adds $2 billion for construction work on the Olmsted Locks and Dam on the lower part of the Ohio River. That's an increase of 276% over what had been appropriated for this project. By an odd coincidence, much of this money will be spent in Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's home state. The Senate Conservatives Fund dubbed it the "Kentucky Kickback."

• Hands $174,000 over to Bonnie Englebardt, widow of the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg. Never mind that she'd been married to Lautenberg for just nine years when he died, or that it was his second marriage, or that Lautenberg's net worth was upwards of $116 million when he died.

• Promises federal workers a 1% raise starting in January, in addition to providing back pay for the two weeks they were off due to the shutdown. Too bad for all those private sector workers who will see their pay and hours cut next year thanks to ObamaCare.

• Gives the Transportation Department $450 million more to repair flood-damaged roads in Colorado.

• Devotes $3.1 million for a Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. This board, unfortunately, has nothing to do with protecting Americans from ObamaCare's violations of privacy and civil liberties. It's meant to ensure that federal anti-terrorism efforts don't cause discomfort to anyone at home.

Meanwhile, the deal left ObamaCare alone, except for one meaningless tweak, and did nothing to rein in the other runaway entitlement programs. Worse, it totally ignored the nation's long-term debt crisis.

Obama might consider all this a victory. But the country is the poorer as a result.