After much fanfare surrounding its introduction in January, the Congressional five-day workweek has been quietly retired for the rest of the legislative year. The House will have Fridays off in October so representatives can spend more time in their districts – the week already begins late Monday afternoons – yet while the year is winding down, the workload is gearing up. None of the 12 appropriations bills, which were due before the start of the fiscal year on October 1, have been completed as of publication. The President has vowed to veto most of them for going over budget; so far the bills exceed the President’s request by $22 billion.
Pelosi AIDS San Francisco
A battle has been brewing over funding in the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act (CARE) section of the fiscal 2008 Labor-HHS-Education and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. In 2006, CARE was renewed with a revised funding formula to improve the distribution of grants so that they are allotted more equitably to AIDS cases across the country. This year in the House, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) inserted a provision, called a “hold-harmless,” which would take $9.3 million out of the CARES 2008 budget for urban area grants and redirect the money to give extra money to a few cities in 2007, including $6.2 million for San Francisco, which is in her congressional district. Her explanation was that San Francisco otherwise stands to lose almost a third of its financial support under the new formula.
European Taxpayers Speak Out
When many Americans think of Europe, they conjure up images of slow-moving socialist bureaucracies. While this type of government may exist in some countries, there is a growing free market and taxpayer movement spreading throughout the continent.
Department of Homeland Waste
Since its creation in March 2003, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been dogged by criticism of its ability to fight waste, abuse and mismanagement. On September 6, 2007, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released its latest report with recommendations (on top of the 700 GAO recommendations made in the past) on what DHS should do to improve its management practices.
Catastrophic Insurance is a Disaster
Congress is considering changes to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) as well as increasing the availability of state-sponsored insurance funds. Both initiatives would expose taxpayers to massive costs. The Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2007, H.R. 3121, reauthorizes the NFIP for five years, increases NFIP borrowing authority, and makes updates to maximum […]
New Senate Ethics Bill
“Members of Congress have reproductive organs the size of BBs,” so said Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Colo.) in challenging his colleagues to enact real earmark reform. Alas, Sen. Coburn was proven correct as the Senate voted 83-14 to approve S. 1, misnamed “the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act.”
“Nutty” Earmark Rejected By Florida County
Some times you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t. In the case of Coconut Road in Florida, even though a member of Congress felt like wasting taxpayer dollars on a highway interchange project at Coconut Road and I-75, taxpayers in Lee County, Florida did not want and the Lee County Metropolitan Planning Commission eventually voted against.
Davis-Bacon for Ethanol Plants: New Ways to Waste Money
The federal government’s subsidization of the ethanol industry needlessly depletes the U.S. Treasury. As if that alone were not enough to upset taxpayers, H.R. 2419, the Farm Bill Extension Act, will only make an already egregious waste of money worse by making it even more expensive to build new ethanol plants.
Federal Property: Wretched Excess
The United States government is seriously overdue for a garage sale. While the government is projecting a $205 billion budget deficit for Fiscal 2007 and splurging on tens of billions of dollars in wasteful programs and congressional pork-barrel spending, it also sluggishly attempts to divest itself of billions of dollars worth of derelict or obsolete federal property.
“Bunks for Drunks:” The Real Cost of Seattle’s Social Experiment
If one lives in Seattle, there are clean, furnished apartments in the downtown area for less than $200 a month. It’s a great deal, with one catch: in order to move in, one has to be an alcoholic. Once someone qualifies and takes up residence at 1811 Eastlake, no one will ever tell him or […]