Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) likes to say that Congressional earmarking has become the gateway drug to federal overspending. Is there any better evidence of this theory than President Barack Obama’s $1 billion earmark for a special project in Illinois that was slipped into his failed $862 billion stimulus? According to Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, the Obama Administration awarded $1 billion on August 5th for a Carbon Capture and Storage Network in Illinois: Today’s announcement will help ensure the US remains competitive in a carbon constrained economy, creating jobs while reducing …
Today, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and budget director Peter Orszag released a joint memo asking government agencies to create lists of ineffective programs with the intention of enacting future budget cuts of 5 percent. This initiative follows in the footsteps of proposed legislation that would give the president greater power to cut spending by requiring Congress to vote on line-item spending rescissions requested by the president. To have a significant impact on federal deficits, larger steps will need to be taken, but both ideas take small steps …
A $5 billion stimulus program to weatherize homes is off to a shaky start. ABC News reports that at the end of 2009, only 9,100 have been weatherized to save energy through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. $522 million of the $5 billion has been spent thus far, which equates to over $57,000 per home. That’s quite a slow for a stimulus bill that was supposed to be timely and effective; the goal of the plan was to cover 593,000 homes from the passage of the stimulus bill through …
For some, the ongoing recession means tightening the belt on gratuitous spending. Congress clearly doesn’t share this sentiment. Curiously, they seem to believe now is the perfect time to upgrade their private jet fleet. At a measly $550 million taxpayer dollars, why not? After scolding “The Big Three” auto executives for flying private jets on their way to beg Washington for $25 billion in taxpayer bailouts last November, Congress is now requesting funds for eight new Boeing 737’s and Gulfsteam V planes of their own. The Pentagon, which handles Congressional …
While America debates rising deficits, rising debt, and reckless spending bills, the mood in Washington is understandably sour. For the Americans fortunate to have jobs in this recession, there is still a sense of anxiety about what is around the economic corner. For their jobless friends and family, there is only the hope that the White House and Congress are doing everything in their power to turn the economy around. And how are President Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner responding to this mission? By using taxpayer dollars to hire “Humor …
