Senate Democrats trying to sneak $10 billion payoff to Bezos’s Blue Origin in military budget
Senator Majority leader Charles Schumer (D-New York) and Senator Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island) have inserted a $10 billion subsidy to Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space company in a $250 billion budget bill they are pushing that they claim will address things like the semiconductor chip shortage and the supply chain issues.
The bill, called the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act of 2021, or USICA (pdf available here), is of course mostly filled with payoffs to the friends of Democrats, and will likely achieve nothing that is promised. It is also like all the budget bills being pushed by the Democratic Party in that it treats money as if it grows on trees. They can spend as much as they want, with no consequences at all.
Worse, Schumer and his cronies are trying to hide this pork bill by making it part of the annual military budget bill, dubbed NDAA.
To prove that this is nothing more than corrupt payoffs we need only look at the $10 billion subsidy to Blue Origin. This is a company being directly financed, in the billions, by Bezos himself. It has no shortage of cash. It not only doesn’t need government subsidies, it has never even looked for private investment capital. Bezos has provided it billions from his own pocket, far more cash than SpaceX has ever had on hand.
Yet Bezos is lobbying Democrats for this subsidy, aimed at financing his failed manned lunar lander project that NASA simply doesn’t have the cash to build and also doesn’t want to build because it was a generally weak proposal. From the bill:
This section would require the NASA Administrator to maintain competitiveness within the human landing system by funding design, development, testing, and evaluation for at least two entities. It would also authorize, in addition to amounts otherwise appropriated for the Artemis program, for fiscal years 2021 through 2026, $10.032 billion to NASA to carry out the human landing system program.
In other words, force NASA to award that second manned lunar lander, with Blue Origin almost certainly the winner.
Whether Schumer’s games here will pay off for Bezos remains unknown. I expect most senate Republicans will oppose it (other than the typical RINO fools like Romney). Already Democrats like Bernie Sanders have expressed opposition, as well as at least one children’s lobbying group that appears more aligned with the left than the right.
And even if it passes in the Senate, the House will have to approve, and we can expect ample opposition there from both parties.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Senator Majority leader Charles Schumer (D-New York) and Senator Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island) have inserted a $10 billion subsidy to Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space company in a $250 billion budget bill they are pushing that they claim will address things like the semiconductor chip shortage and the supply chain issues.
The bill, called the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act of 2021, or USICA (pdf available here), is of course mostly filled with payoffs to the friends of Democrats, and will likely achieve nothing that is promised. It is also like all the budget bills being pushed by the Democratic Party in that it treats money as if it grows on trees. They can spend as much as they want, with no consequences at all.
Worse, Schumer and his cronies are trying to hide this pork bill by making it part of the annual military budget bill, dubbed NDAA.
To prove that this is nothing more than corrupt payoffs we need only look at the $10 billion subsidy to Blue Origin. This is a company being directly financed, in the billions, by Bezos himself. It has no shortage of cash. It not only doesn’t need government subsidies, it has never even looked for private investment capital. Bezos has provided it billions from his own pocket, far more cash than SpaceX has ever had on hand.
Yet Bezos is lobbying Democrats for this subsidy, aimed at financing his failed manned lunar lander project that NASA simply doesn’t have the cash to build and also doesn’t want to build because it was a generally weak proposal. From the bill:
This section would require the NASA Administrator to maintain competitiveness within the human landing system by funding design, development, testing, and evaluation for at least two entities. It would also authorize, in addition to amounts otherwise appropriated for the Artemis program, for fiscal years 2021 through 2026, $10.032 billion to NASA to carry out the human landing system program.
In other words, force NASA to award that second manned lunar lander, with Blue Origin almost certainly the winner.
Whether Schumer’s games here will pay off for Bezos remains unknown. I expect most senate Republicans will oppose it (other than the typical RINO fools like Romney). Already Democrats like Bernie Sanders have expressed opposition, as well as at least one children’s lobbying group that appears more aligned with the left than the right.
And even if it passes in the Senate, the House will have to approve, and we can expect ample opposition there from both parties.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
“. . . a $250 billion budget bill they are pushing that they claim will address things like the semiconductor chip shortage. . .”
For a little perspective, Intel (right here in Hillsboro!) is the world’s largest semiconductor company with a market cap of 201B (November 2021). You could buy Intel for about the budget of this one bill. Where does it go? More money is spent every year; and, amazingly, our standard of living decreases every year. Does anyone need anymore evidence that the political class is in it for themselves, and to heck with you proles. And year after year, these same people are put in power (don’t know if I can say ‘elected’). This experiment is over.
Chuck Schumer is such a joke, here he is asking to release the strategic oil reserve to lower fuel prices…
https://thehill.com/policy/transportation/581494-schumer-presses-biden-to-tap-oil-reserves-to-lower-gas-prices
Just to find out that Joe Biden had already sold it all to Asia!
https://citizenfreepress.com/breaking/alert-biden-is-selling-our-strategic-petroleum-reserve-to-asia/
That’s right boys and girls, Texas last winter was just the warm-up act to what’s coming. Oil pipelines shut down, oil wells on public lands shut down, strategic oil supply gone, coal mines shut down…
What’s next? The waiver of your human rights if you test positive for Covid? The “cares act” that Trump signed into law allows this… As if you can wave your rights, you’ve never actually had them at all. Is the experiment over???
https://aapsonline.org/bidens-bounty-on-your-life-hospitals-incentive-payments-for-covid-19/
The local man in Utah walked into the isolation ward where his mother was being held against her will to find out that she has not been given any food or water in five days. The hospital was waiting for her to die so they can collect the money. Yes the test says she was positive but she had no illness. He was told that that is the standard care protocol now.
Hospitalization over 50 is a death sentence.
The Democrats don’t really need to “sneak” anything into the budget. Nobody will stop them even now that it’s out in the open.
My respect: Poker player Jeff Bezos still has always a further ace up his sleeve.
Bezos will eventually self implode and be forgotten by history. His one and only claim to fame is flying above the Kaman Line for a few minutes and most likely won’t reach LEO for years if ever. Rewarding failure is the cornerstone of the Democrats this nothing but more of the same.
Max, you are right, Biden sold off some of the oil reserve. He will sell it all, as that was in the Infrastructure bill-sell it all off to pay for the bill, and not replace it.
The Oil Reserve was started in the ’70’s to avoid having the mess like we had under Jimmy Carter. Now, we are back to being held at the mercy of the oil producing countries.
Plus, imagine if we have a war, and our imports are cut off?
I can design a rocket that won’t go into orbit too for less than that. In fact, I will guarantee (with double your money back) it won’t ever leave the launch pad.
Chris Lopes: I can top you. I’ll take one third and promise the rocket never even leaves the factory. In fact, neither will its engine!
I never saw any of this coming. Really never thought Grampus would do this.
The oil reserve does need periodic changing.
We have to rotate that stock. Sell it off cheap when the prices are high to lower the general prices and buy it back after the prices come back down.
But it is for the use of the US consumer and not the rest of the world.
As for Bozos. Who didn’t see this coming?
Can I play? For one quarter the price I’ll do a rocket that never reaches the drawing board.
With some Estes Rockets, I have gotten a few hundred feet…
Ol’ Chucky doing politics as usual.
He’s getting on in years, and is at the height of his power, time to fill the retirement fund.
Slip $10bil to Bezos, only asking for maybe 1% discreetly distributed to the campaign fund, and family.
Should be a slam dunk. Plenty of money around, Nancy and the other Dem players should go along, the good ol’ piggy Republicans like Mitt and Liz should be on board too.
But that bleeping idiot Bernie can’t shut up and give a 40 year career congressman his due (They figure LBJ skimmed about $10 mil during his career – that’s over $100 in in today’s dollars). What’s this world coming to?!!
“What’s this world coming to?!!”
The same place it’s always been; the West is just re-learning the lesson.
Bezos has always been focused on selling and financial success (he started on Wall St).
Amazon is mostly a reseller (whether of hard goods or data services) and BO has been more focused on landing gov’t contracts and selling engines than making the stuff they are selling. (Not a total knock on Bezos. Amazon was a monster success based on guts, brilliant insight and execution).
Musk focused on lofty goals – electrify the transportation system/reduce carbon output and get humans seriously into space.
He was willing to risk his entire fortune in pursuit of those goals, he’s been about building the hardware and hoping/expecting sales would result so he could finance the furtherance of the goals.
How ironic that today it is Musk who has eclipsed Bezos as wealthiest person.
PS “Children’s Health Defense” is Robert Kennedy’s org. I’d say that qualifies as left wing.
Look around that site, aren’t all anti-vaxxers supposed to be white MAGA Republicans? – NOT!
If Bezos gets this much…..
Then what is the Facebook gang getting?
They spent at least $ 416 million tipping the scales for two Salt & Pepper US Senators, thus bending the Justice of Power into the also paid for Brandon Cocked Hat.
I’d be worth 10 bil to get microchips OUT of everything.
Bezos is the last person who needs 10 bil. If it is part of the military budget and “must” be spent —give it to space force to make their own decisions. Kill F-35.
Mitch S. said;
“PS “Children’s Health Defense” is Robert Kennedy’s org. I’d say that qualifies as left wing.
Look around that site, aren’t all anti-vaxxers supposed to be white MAGA Republicans? – NOT!”
He actually talked about that in his interview with Tucker Carlson. He talked about being a victim of the cancel culture even though the material they expose and write about is sourced meticulously. He thanked Tucker for the opportunity to be on TV because no one will touch him or this cause. (he was going to be on Coast to Coast on Tuesday but they would not let him on the plane in Italy because he has not been vaccinated)
50 min
https://ugetube.com/watch/robert-f-kennedy-jr-coup-de-vax-tucker-carlson-today_HEyaNrQ88qaCAUt.html
Cotour, I know you believe in vaccinations… At the 18 minute mark he goes over some of the horrifying details. No vaccine has ever had a double blind study, they do not want the public to know the results. Nor do they want to mess with the gravy train.
T4 runs our medical system, it’s time for some more Nuremberg trials.
Bezos knows how to grease the wheels:
https://www.dailywire.com/news/bezos-commits-largest-donation-obama-foundation-has-received-100-million-report-says
Leave it to the Democ-Rats to try and slip their Pork into some important Bill they need to be removed
Star Bird:
That trick goes back a long way
LBJ in 1956 stuck a law that banned Churches from any involvement in Politics or loose of their Tax exemption, in the last minute budget bill.
The Churches across Texas almost most cost him his seat, and that was with the stuffing of the ballot boxes in the Olde Way.