No Stimulus Funds for Pastel Lights, Saunas, Blago

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


TPM reports that Sen. Tom Coburn has introduced an amendment to the stimulus bill that would prevent any spending on “zero-gravity chairs,” “rotating pastel lights,” or “dry heat saunas.” This isn’t the first time the Oklahoma Republican has gone after such taxpayer-funded frivolities. In all the hullabaloo over earmarks, it’s worth remembering that members of Congress can also slip what might be called anti-earmarks into legislation. We recently collected some classic examples of these “inappropriations,” including Coburn’s earlier attempt to reign in an outbreak of relaxation at the CDC, which had blown money on the aforementioned zero-g chairs, pastel lights, and saunas. No doubt a few more proposals to restrict who gets stimulus dollars will surface before the Senate’s done. And one anti-earmark in the House version of the bill is now moot—the one barring Illinois from receiving a single cent until Rod Blagojevic is no longer governor. 

Fact:

Mother Jones was founded as a nonprofit in 1976 because we knew corporations and billionaires wouldn't fund the type of hard-hitting journalism we set out to do.

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2024 demands.

payment methods

Fact:

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2024 demands.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate