After years of feeding at the trough, it appears that some members of Congress are not adapting well to the newly imposed two-year earmark moratorium. Despite affirmation by congressional leaders that earmarks will not exist in the 112th Congress, the pork addicts are chafing under the new strictures.
A-Maize-ing Waste: Why Ethanol Subsidies Must Be Repealed
“I once was lost but now am found; Was blind, but now I see” the amazing waste in the ethanol subsidy program, admitted Vice President Al Gore. A November 27, 2010, Wall Street Journal article confirmed that the ethanol cheerleader and environmental eminence of the climate change movement had backtracked on his support for the program, saying it was a “mistake,” and that he only supported it because he had a “certain fondness for the farmers in the state of Iowa” during his presidential run.
Four Myths about the Export-Import Bank
The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) is an independent government agency founded in 1934 in an effort to encourage U.S. exports. In 2010, Ex-Im Bank provided $24.4 billion in taxpayer-backed direct loans, guarantees, and export-credit insurance to private firms and foreign governments. Whatever its original intent may have been, today Ex-Im Bank is an obvious example of corporate welfare. Denying Ex-Im Bank’s charter, which is up for renewal in 2011, would eradicate a regressive, wasteful institution whose time has passed.
Blackmail to Avoid Blackouts is Not Sound Policy
Imagine that you’re settling in to watch your favorite must-see-TV when your station de jour abruptly goes black. You suddenly can’t watch the big game, or the American Idol finale or (fill in your “can’t-live-without-it” show here). How could this possibly happen? You try rebooting your cable box as you frantically flip through the TV guide to make sure it’s really Super Bowl Sunday.
Weatherization–More Money, Blowin’ in the Wind
February 17, 2011 marked the two-year anniversary of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the so-called stimulus package. Needless to say, the contrived celebratory fanfare that characterized the one-year anniversary last year has now given way to the dull realization that the $862 billion program has been an abject failure. The oft-repeated promise that the stimulus money would be tracked to the very last dime has become the butt of late-night talk shows and taxpayers are left to wonder where all the money went.
Victory!
On February 16, 2011 taxpayers and the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) scored a major victory when the House of Representatives voted 233-198 to kill funding for the alternate engine for the Joint Strike Fighter as part of H.R. 1, the Full-Year Continuing Resolution (CR) for fiscal year (FY) 2011. The CR, which cut $100 billion from President Obama’s FY 2011 budget (equal to $61 billion from fiscal year 2010 approved spending levels), was approved by a vote of 235-189. The CR contained 61 spending cuts worth $9.9 billion were either identical or similar to recommendations in CAGW’s Prime Cuts.
Future of Earmarks Remains Vague
Predicting the future of earmarks can be a bit like peering into a crystal ball.
Planned Spending Cuts Do Not Include Defense
One of the top priorities of the Republican’s campaign to take back Congress in 2010 was to reduce the deficit by cutting spending. Republican leaders intended to return nondefense discretionary spending to 2008 levels by trimming $100 billion in the first fiscal year.
Obama’s SOTU, Yet Another Disappointment for Taxpayers
During a time of record annual budget deficits and public debt, the country, more than ever, needs solutions to its fiscal problems. Most taxpayers were expecting the President’s State of the Union speech to signal a major policy shift, away from rampant government spending and toward private sector solutions to the nation’s fiscal woes. Instead they heard the President pay lip service to a few spending issues and introduce more programs for which taxpayers will be responsible. In short, it was a major disappointment.
New House Rules Focus Members on Making Serious Spending Cuts
On election day, taxpayers turned out in droves to support fiscally conservative candidates that they entrusted with the responsibility of cutting the federal budget, reducing the size of the national debt, and returning Congress to the hands of the American people. Charged with these critical tasks, the 112th Congress has agreed to new rules and proposed debt-busting legislation in an effort to restore some semblance of fiscal sanity.