Waking up on a beautiful spring day, I was looking for equally bright news in the media. Instead, I found today’s op-ed in the Washington Post by Colbert King which shows that earmarks know no boundaries. He cites millions of dollars in projects that were included in the District of Columbia’s budget that King says [...]
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THe Hill newspaper reports on items stuck into what is supposed to be a WAR bill.
Senate panel approves Iraq war funding bill
A number of Republicans have joined Democrats in pushing to beef up the domestic spending in the supplemental measure, recognizing that the must-pass bill remains one of the few pieces of legislation likely [...]
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Here is a link to the most recent GAO review of weak governance and mismanagement issues that have been dogging one of America’s great cultural institutions, the Smithsonian. Hey, unless you are Hercules, it ain’t easy to muck out the Augean stables in a single day.
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Sen. Charles “Chuck” Schumer (D-N.Y.)
Washington Office:
Phone: 202-224-6542
Fax: 202-228-3027
http://schumer.senate.gov/
Email Form
CAGW Names Sen. Charles Schumer Porker of the Month
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CCAGW Statement Submitted for the Record before the House Armed Services Committee
Committee Mark-Up of H.R. 5658, The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009
May 14, 2008
According to the May 2 Congressional Quarterly, some members of the House Armed Services Committee are considering challenging the Air Force’s $35 billion contract award to Northrop Grumman for its [...]
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The Hill newspaper reports that the infamous $23 million NDIC earmark, over which 2007 Porker of the Year winner John Murtha threw a temper tantrum and threatened a colleague last year, was removed from this year’s intelligence bill:
Dems, GOP together nix Murtha earmark
Democrats and Republicans joined together to strip a pet project of Rep. John [...]
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What a sorry excuse for leadership! On Thursday, May 8, 2008, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), Chairmen of the Senate and House Agriculture Committees respectively, had spent more than an hour revealing their conference agreement on H.R. 2419, the 2008 Farm Bill. Understandably, since they had shepherded this monstrosity to conclusion, [...]
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It’s that time of the year again - time to load up the “Emergency” War Supplemental. The hijinx are in full swing with billions of dollars being diverted from a bill that is supposed to go to the troops in the battlefield:
Roll Call: Supplemental Roils Congress
Despite pressure from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Speaker [...]
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Hang onto your wallets, AGAIN. The House passed legislation today, an amendment to H.R. 3221, the Foreclosure Prevention Act, by a vote of 266 to 154, that will bail out irresponsible lenders, speculators, and people that committed fraud for home purchases and are now in financial trouble. Here is a video by Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Florida) who speaks about people — [...]
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The Washington Post published an article today about the exposion of earmarks in DC:
D.C. Earmarks
WHEN IT COMES to earmarks, the District of Columbia is making up for lost time. Just five years ago, these questionable appropriations of public funds didn’t occur in the city. Now they are routine. In the past four years, an estimated [...]
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Read this terrrific op ed in today’s WSJ on our nation’s ridiculous, costly, and increasingly incomprehensible attachment to federally-subsidized food-to-fuel schemes and the havoc they are wreaking across the globe:
…All it took was a mere global “food crisis.” Last week chief economist Joseph Glauber of the USDA, which has been among Big Ethanol’s best friends in Washington, blamed biofuels [...]
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Wouldn’t you like to take unlimited days off from work while still receiving your full salary? Maybe you should run for Congress! You’d also get a free car and a pay raise every year.
“Um, Yes, Senator Reid, Cough Cough, I’m Sick Again”
Here’s one way to tell who is the least elitist, out-of-touch presidential candidate: Which [...]
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How much should it cost to restore salmon to a river? Try $22 million per salmon under legislation that is moving through Congress.
The salmon saga began seventy-five years ago, when the state of California decided to divert water from the San Joaquin River and use it for agricultural purposes. Twenty year ago, a lawsuit was [...]
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Jeff Birnbaum of the Washington Post has gotten to the bottom of the mysterious 6-page pro-earmark memorandum that was the subject of his column on April 29, 2008.
The author was none other than a lobbyist for a big earmark-seeking firm here in town, W. Roger Gwinn from The Ferguson Group. Jeff writes:
The six-page document, which has [...]
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on this morning’s CNBC Squawk Box, Tom Schatz discussed the $22 million salmon and taxpayer-financed cars for House members.
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Will air at 6:35am eastern time on Tuesday, May 6 instead of the regular 6:50am time.
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Two press releases for today:
CAGW Commends Decision on Cap of High-Cost Fund for USF
Washington, D.C. - Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today commended the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) for its decision on reform of the Universal Service Fund (USF) and applauded the agency’s efforts to cap the out-of-control subsidies that consumers are financing. …
CCAGW Statement [...]
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Outrageous story from WCBSTV-NY
Watch video
On YOUR Dime: Congressmen Lease Luxury Cars
NEW YORK (CBS) ― You may not realize it, but members of the House of Representatives can lease a car and have it paid for by you — the taxpayer. And it’s not just the car, but gas, registration, insurance … the works.
And [...]
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OK, only in a policy-wonk hell like Washington, D.C. could a “White Paper” on earmarks be considered a “hot” item. But that is exactly how Washington Post veteran reporter Jeff Birnbaum described reactions to this 6-page “research” paper which is supposedly making its way around Capitol Hill.
Well, not everyone on the Hill got it, I guess, since this [...]
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Today’s USA Today has an article by reporter Dennis Cauchon about how state bureaucracies are hiring up an ever increasing number of workers. This is occurring because of the economic downturn:
Federal, state and local governments are hiring new workers at the fastest pace in six years, helping offset job losses in the private sector.
Governments added [...]
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Remember when I blogged about a bill that Rep. John Campbell (R-Calif.) was going to introduce that would allow individuals who think they don’t pay enough in taxes to easily pay more? Well, we have a bill number now: H.R. 5783 and there are 44 sponsors as of April 14. Is your Congressman or Congresswoman one of [...]
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Tom Schatz discusses the missed opportunities for reform in the Farm Bill with CNBC’s Becky Quick on Squawk Box.
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Hate to say “we told you so,” but maybe pointing out CAGW’s prescience on ethanol mandates will encourage lawmakers to heed our advice in the future.
March 20, 2008:
Corn Ethanol is Not a Panacea
When corn is converted into fuel, less of it is available for human and animal consumption, driving up the price of products made [...]
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Wastewatcher, April 2008
Coconut Road Outrage
by Leslie K. Paige
An update on the ongoing drama associated with what Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) has dubbed “the immaculate earmark.”
Fill’er Up with Politics
by Elizabeth Wright
The Air Force refueling tanker saga started with a provision added to the fiscal 2002 Defense Appropriations Act directing the Air Force to lease 100 [...]
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Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), the nation’s premiere taxpayer watchdog, and the Tennessee Center for Policy Research (TCPR), Tennessee’s free market think tank, unveiled the 2008 Tennessee Pork Report: Waste, Fraud and Abuse of Your Tax Dollars Exposed. The report is the third Tennessee Pork Report in as many years to expose wasteful spending by [...]
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I apologize for dredging up those long buried memories and invoking the comical words of Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.). Hey, at least I didn’t salute….well, OK, I did salute, but at least you didn’t have to witness that.
Anyway, according to the fine folks over at National Review Online, there may be a serious congressional challenger to CAGW’s Porker of the [...]
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Today, National Journal reporter Ira R. Allen writes about criticism of Sen. McCain’s proposal to give drivers a hiatus from the federal gas tax for the summer. The criticism comes from one Jack Schenendorf, identified as the Vice-Chairman of the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission, a Republican transportation expert, and former adviser to [...]
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Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports on our April Porkers of the Month. Reps. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) and Todd Tiahrt (R-Kans.) respond:
Dicks, Tiahrt ‘Porkers of the Month’ over tanker
George Behan, a spokesman for Dicks, discounted the criticism, saying Dicks believes that the Air Force decision in favor of the Airbus tanker was “flawed.”
Citing the Boeing tanker’s smaller size relative [...]
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Tom Schatz announced the April Porkers of the Month - Reps. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) and Todd Tiahrt (R-Kans.) - on CNBC’s Pork Watch today. Rep. Tiahrt also appeared on the segment to defend his interference with the defense procurement process.
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CAGW Names Reps. Dicks and Tiahrt Porkers of the Month
Washington, D.C. - Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today named Reps. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) and Todd Tiahrt (R-Kans.) April Porkers of the Month for threatening to reverse a $35 billion Air Force refueling tanker contract award to Northrop Grumman. The losing bidder, the Boeing Company, has [...]
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