Whining over Investment in Economic Recovery

Some are whining over the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 that President Obama signed into law today. Here's some of what the act funds:

$17 billion for science agencies including:

• $10 billion for NIH (National Institutes of Health) - including $8.5 billion to expand biomedical research and the rest for university infrastructure;
  
• $1 billion for NASA (National Aeronautics & Space Administration) - nearly half of it for climate-change work;
  
• $3 billion for NSF (National Institutes of Health) - for basic research;
  
• $2 billion for DOE (Department of Energy) Office of Science - much of it for research in climate science and biofuels;
  
• $830 million for NOAA (National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration);
• $580 million for NIST (National Institutes of Standards & Technology);

Green initiatives including:

• $26.86 billion investment in energy efficiency to kick-start the economy by creating more than half a million jobs and saving hundreds of billion of dollars in wasted energy costs;
• $18.95 billion for green transportation, including public transit and high-speed rail projects, to put more than 300,000 people to work building the transportation solutions we need to cut greenhouse gas pollution;
• $32.80 billion for clean energy projects to reduce global warming pollution and cut down on pollution to rivers, lakes, and coastal waters, making them safe for drinking water, swimming, and fishing.

Yes, there are many aspects of the bill I don't like, but the people whining the loudest today are those who were silent (or worse, cheering on) even as hundreds of billions of tax dollars were poured into the sands of Iraq.