Posted on 03/14/2011 11:36:39 AM PDT by Slyscribe
Liberal pundits have been criticizing House Republicans because their budget cuts include an $8.1 million reduction in a program for the Special Olympics.
Suzy Khimm at Mother Jones says this “takes a hatchet to programs for disabled kids and Special Olympics athletes.”
Matt Yglesias claims that the “GOP Budget Hammers The Special Olympics” and the “good news is that David Koch has plenty of money and is a pretty generous guy, and could easily demonstrate his commitment to liberty
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.investors.com ...
This can’t be privately funded?
And secondly, if this is such a great program, it will have no problems getting private donors to help pay the bills.
I did not know it was publicly funded. I think we should get more private funding for this wonderful organization. After all, most Olympic athletes (not talking about rich dream team pros) have to find private funding.
Charitable dollars should go directly from donors to worthy causes. Laundering them through government coffers only decreases their effectiveness.
I stopped donating to ‘this wonderful organization’ because of their overly-aggressive fundraising tactics. They call you day and night and even after you have told them you cannot give them any money, they continue to call. Sorry, I don’t need that in my life.
On October 30, 2004, President George W. Bush signed into law the "Special Olympics Sport and Empowerment Act," Public Law 108-406. The bill authorized funding for its Healthy Athletes, Education, and Worldwide Expansion programs.[2] Co-sponsored by Representatives Roy Blunt (R-MO), and Steny Hoyer (D-MD), and Senators Rick Santorum (R-PA) and Harry Reid (D-NV), the bills were passed by unanimous consent in both chambers.
Gee, I wonder why they don’t just cite the article of the Constitution that requires the federal government to fun the Special Olympics. That would seal their argument. What? This isn’t in the Constitution? Oh well, then, never mind.
That is a horrible tactic. They only hurt their athletes by bugging people like that.
“I did not know it was publicly funded”
I thought it was publicly funded, i.e., by the public. I did not know that it was funded by the government. There is no reason why the taxpayers should be forced to fund psorts programs for anybody.
By the way, I am on a personal crusade to correct the misuse of the word “public”.
Yeah, bush was definitely a fair weather conservative. We need to try a real one.
“This can’t be privately funded?”
Up to reading this story I thought it was. My Father inlaws Kiwanas chapter, along with local other fraternal organizations sponsors and funds our local Special Olympics. Which is the way it should be.
Wrong Question.
Right Question: Is subsidizing a Special Olympics part of the Federal Government’s Constitutional purview?
Answer: No.
I agree. Do you know what is better than winning a Gold Medal at the Special Olympics?
re: must never take it away
And in fact increase the amount every year! And if one year you don’t increase it by as much then it’s called “slashing” the program.
Who knows what it would be called, or the way it would be treated if the funds were actually reduced one year over the previous year. It’s never been done so any ideas are pure speculation.
It’s time to stop funding hundreds and thousands of things that have crept onto the public dole over the years. Things like the Cowboy Poetry Festival, etc.
The “Special Olympics Sport and Empowerment Act,” just ANOTHER way Georgie Boy sucked up to his fellow NorthEasterners, The Kennedys.
Getting a lid on the budget involves killing a whole bunch of programs, each of which has defenders who cry that their particular program is such a tiny bit of the deficit.
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