Posted on 07/18/2002 3:54:54 PM PDT by dr_who
Army on Credit Card Spending Spree
Army personnel have used government-travel charge cards at strip clubs, to book cruises, for Internet gambling, and for other questionable personal uses, according to The Washington Post.
The GAO, the investigative agency of Congress, also said a number of personnel with high-security clearances were among the abusers of the government-issued travel and charge cards, posing potential security risks.
The GAO report is the latest volley in a two-year congressional probe of the Pentagon's credit card program. The program is huge. Last year, 1.4 million Defense Department employees used government travel cards for $2.1 billion in travel purchases; an additional 230,000 defense workers used purchase cards for $6.1 billion in goods and services.
In "The Pentagon Purloined Purchases," Edward L. Hudgins wrote: "The lesson that the Pentagon and many of our lawmakers miss is this: Because governments are spending other people's money, they have less incentive to be responsible. That is why we impose paperwork, red tape, oversights, and reviews on bureaucrats. Yes, these safeguards do cost money and time. That is why governments are inherently inefficient. And that is why they should be allowed to do only limited, essential tasks like defend the country. If oversight is removed in the name of efficiency, the likely result will be even more waste and abuse."
GOP-Controlled House Increases NEA Budget
The Republican-controlled House voted 234 to 192 yesterday to approve an increase of nearly 10 percent in the 2003 budget for the National Endowment for the Arts, an agency that GOP conservatives had targeted for deep cuts or elimination just a few years ago.
Government funding for the NEA is now a "nonissue" and Congress is "very satisfied" with the agency, said Rep. Ralph Regula (R-Ohio), who has played a key role in reshaping the NEA's mission.
The vote came a couple of hours before the House passed a $20.4 billion natural resources and arts bill that exceeds President Bush's request by nearly $1.5 billion.
In "Subsidies to the Arts: Cultivating Mediocrity," novelist Bill Kauffman writes that we should learn from the Soviet bloc's mistakes and get rid of government funding of the arts.
In a speech entitled "The Separation of Art and State," Cato Vice President David Boaz said, "Government funding of anything involves government control."
Mo Money, Mo Money, Mo Money!
There's a war on brothers! No complaining here. More patriotic posters please.
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