Budget snafu earmarks $$$ for Jamestown

A congressional earmark included in the hurried adoption of a $1.1 trillion federal spending bill last week allocates $100,000 for Jamestown’s library.

The catch: There is no library in Jamestown.
 

The money was injected into the bill — which covers about half of all federal programs — by South Carolina Rep. James E. Clyburn.

The House minority whip meant for the money to go to Jamestown, S.C., population 97, but the wrong Jamestown was entered into the legislation.

The bill — which contained some 3,500 earmarks totaling nearly $4 billion — was signed into law Wednesday by President Barack Obama.

“We are in the process of fixing the typo in the bill,” Clyburn spokeswoman Kristie Greco said Friday.

Greco didn’t know how the wrong Jamestown was inked in. She said changing the law would require a “technical correction” amendment.

The amendment could be introduced as soon as January, Greco said. It’s highly unlikely the money will wind up in California, she said.

The lost windfall was a surprise, and a bit of a downer, for Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors member Dick Pland, whose district includes Jamestown, Calif.

“We would really like to have a new library in Jamestown,” he said, adding tongue-in-cheek, “While $100,000 is not going to do it, it could certainly help.”

The earmark originated with a $50,000 request from the Jamestown, S.C., library for computers and a computer program.

Generous to his district, Clyburn doubled the amount.

Contacted by phone Friday, Chris Pipkin, who runs the all-volunteer library, said she learned about the mishap Thursday and laughed.

“That’s government for you. I don’t know what else to say.”