It must be election season, because the earmarks are pouring in to the Catskills and the Hudson Valley Region.
Yesterday, US Representative Maurice Hinchey announced that he got $205,000 from House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services for three agricultural initiatives in the Hudson Valley, including a chef-farmer education program called Hudson Valley Bounty, the Hudson Valley Incubator Kitchen, and the Hudson Valley Agribusiness Incubator Fund. See here for the full press release.
Not to be outdone, US Representative Scott Murphy announced his own local pork project yesterday: $3.2 million to build a new library in Cairo from the USDA's Rural Development Community Facilities Program. That press release is here.
And that's only this week. Last week, Hinchey announced that Sullivan County would receive $65,000 for broadband internet access and $221,077 to study wind power projects, both from the USDA's Rural Development fund. And Murphy crowed about $4 million coming to Walton from the USDA for sewer system improvements.
So remember when you vote: How much dough did your incumbent get for your town today?
*UPDATE: On more thorough reflection, it's probably not fair to tar the USDA funds with the pork-barrel brush. They were competitively awarded, and among many similar grants across the nation. Forgive us -- we're digging out from under a pile of press releases.
