USDA: 760,000 pounds of ham for $1.2M

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack pushed back Monday against reports his agency spent $1.2 million in economic stimulus funds on a two-pound ham. Vilsack said the department actually bought 760,000 pounds of ham with funds from the $787 billion stimulus, which the GOP has attacked as wasteful spending. Vilsack put out the statement after the Drudge Report posted several contracts from the government’s stimulus website. The contracts suggest the administration spent $1.19 million on two pounds of ham, $1.56 million for mozzarella cheese and $16.8 million on canned pork, among other items. Republicans sent blast e-mails of screenshots from the Drudge Report, highlighting the contracts as wasteful spending. “The White House was wrong when they said there was no pork in the stimulus — and at a higher price than at the average grocery store,” said Antonia Ferrier, a spokeswoman for House Minority Leader John Boehner (Ohio). None of the contracts indicated how much food was purchased with the stimulus funds. Vilsack’s statement said his agency bought 837,936 pounds of mozzarella, for example. Vilsack said the food was purchased for distribution to local groups, including food banks and soup kitchens that support the needy. He said the purchases would help reduce hunger among those hardest hit by the recession...TheHill

Still wondering how this creates jobs.