Maybe they are not going to spend it all at once. Maybe they actually have the money in reserve someplace. Maybe they have the ability to borrow it from another country. Maybe they spend more than that amount with nothing to show for it every year if they don't do something different now. Maybe it creates jobs and helps the local agriculture industry. Maybe they just go a free vacation to Baytown for show????? That would be a great first choice of golfing destinations.
I think there is a golden nugget somewhere under this pile of manure and they saw it once. They'll dig in the manure until they get it.All this effort just to smell like manure???? That is a bit of a stretch.
I think they have authority from some source in order to even suggest such a statement. Perhaps private investors? Military budgets? Foreign funds? International monetary funds? Or a combination of all of them?
To hear such a figure thrown about gives me pause as well. That is a huge number from the poverty section. But what are they spending as we speak? And where does it come from????