TAXPAYER WATCHDOG GROUP OPPOSES GOVERNMENT FUNDS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION | Citizens Against Government Waste

TAXPAYER WATCHDOG GROUP OPPOSES GOVERNMENT FUNDS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEContact: Jim Campi or Aaron Taylor
September 29, 1999(202) 467-5300

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) today announced its support for a bill to automatically reduce payments to the World Bank for projects which are harmful to the environment and opposed by the U. S. government.  CCAGW President Thomas Schatz joined the bill's sponsor, Rep. Chris Cox (R-Calif.), at a Capitol Hill news conference to support the bill.  Following are Schatz's remarks:

"The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste has long opposed handing over taxpayer dollars to international organizations with no strings attached.  The U.S. government has an obligation to keep tabs on the money it collects from its citizens.  Our elected and appointed officials must be held accountable for every dime they spend.  Unfortunately, that accountability goes out the window when we sign a blank check to the World Bank, or any other international organization.

"In the case of the World Bank, we can see the destruction that this lack of accountability has wrought.  This issue was brought to Mr. Cox's attention by a particular dam project in Tibet.  Because of that project, indigenous people have been displaced, and the ecology of the local area has been harmed.

"But the consequences of one individual project are not the problem.  The problem is that projects like these are going forward over the objections of the United States government.  Our elected officials waste plenty of money on shortsighted pork-barrel projects.  At least that money stays in the country.  There's no excuse for sending money overseas with no control over how it is spent.

"This bill simply allows the U.S. to withhold funds to the World Bank for projects that are not in America's interests.  It's basic accountability for taxpayers' money.  The Cox bill will help American officials make sure that America's tax dollars are spent in America's best interests.  We thank Rep. Cox for putting the interests of taxpayers first.

 

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