Free Republic

The earmark vote shows that far too many purportedly conservative lawmakers want to partake in the big-government excesses of the Biden era.It appears House Republicans need to become re-acquainted with the late Democratic Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn and humorist Mark Twain. Both men famously commented on the lack of educational value of the second kick of a mule, which aptly describes the actions of the Republican conference in endorsing a return to congressional earmarks.These earmarks—or, as lawmakers now wish to rebrand them, “community project funding”—bred corruption and scandals during their heyday in the 2000s. Just as important, they...

Conservatives are taking aim at the pork-laden $50.7 billion Superstorm Sandy aid package that Northeastern governors and lawmakers hope to push through the House this coming week. Too much of the aid will go to recovery efforts for past disasters and other projects unrelated to the late-October storm, they say. The bill includes $150 million for what the Commerce Department described as fisheries disasters in places as far afield as Alaska and Mississippi, and $50 million in subsidies for replanting trees on private land damaged by wildfires. … The objections have led senior House Republicans to assemble a $17 billion...

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) named Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) its September Porker of the Month for suggesting that the United States Postal Service (USPS) could solve its financial problems by embarking on a new ad campaign. At a September 6, 2011Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing at which Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe speculated that the USPS could be out of business by the end of the year, Sen. McCaskill stated, “I really believe that if somebody would begin to market the value of sending a written letter to someone you love, you might...

Manchester, New Hampshire activists to oppose Fed stimulus spending and other D.C. intrusions in the city. But how effective will they be at first? To join them you can email MFL@NHAlternative.com Also one veteran activist says the most effective thing you could do to have an immediate positive effect on city hall would be this: Just show up and then report how much they spent, and what they spent it on. Word will get out that they're being watched more closely than before. My other suggestion would be to announce in advance when the meetings are and what your concerns...

MANCHESTER—Manchester's board of mayor and aldermen met the first Tuesday of September, as they do every month. Acting as the legislative body of the City, you might expect that they had a lot to do—and you'd be correct. Even so it may be surprising just how much they do. During this session the aldermen passed what they called the consent agenda. The consent agenda is a single motion that includes all the recommend motions of the City's departments and subcommittees. The consent agenda was published as part of the agenda of the meeting, which amounts to a 336 page document....

Our tax dollars at work!!!

A floor fight that carried out into the hallway erupted between Maxine Waters (D-CA) and the Appropriations Committee Chairman Dave Obey (D-Wisc.). While it is a bit unusual to see Democrats trying to stop other Democrats from spending, David Obey may be the bright shinning light for Dems. It turns out that Maxine Waters was trying to get pork set aside for a monument to herself. She was asking for funding for a school to be built that already carried her name. When Obey refused that she came back with a plan that would have the committee approving a funding...

Last year's dem retreat was billed to the taxpayers at $100,000. This year's retreat will be billed to us as well. When the republicans go on a retreat, the same link above tells us that their party picks up the tab. The taxpayers are billed -$0.00-. The defense? Republicans invite evil lobbyists.

House Republicans have been taunting Democrats for turning down their offer to eliminate spending earmarks, and Democrats reply that the GOP isn't serious. The Republicans seem intent on proving that Democrats are right, as GOP leaders showed last week in denying Arizona's Jeff Flake a seat on the Appropriations Committee...

Not long after Nelson Ludlow and his wife started a technology business in Port Townsend with money scraped together from friends, family and retirement accounts, they spent precious dollars in an unlikely way: They hired a lobbyist and started giving to a congressional campaign fund. ...

Rep. C. W. Bill Young (R-Fla.), who chaired the subcommittee last year and previously chaired the full committee, tops the list with 59 projects. Rep. John P. Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat who chairs the subcommittee that oversees defense spending, came in second with 46. In total, there are 1,776 special projects in the bill that was reported to the full committee -- a coincidental number that conservatives should have plenty of fun with ("It's a spending revolution ... " etc.). Whatever your take on lawmaker-requested projects, this new era of disclosure sure gives everyone plenty of paper to pore over....

Next week, the President’s Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform will issue its report. According to press leaks, its principal recommendation will be to eliminate the Alternative Minimum Tax and pay for it by scaling back deductions for mortgage interest, state and local taxes, and health insurance. This is necessary because President Bush mandated that the commission’s proposals be revenue-neutral—neither raising nor lowering aggregate federal revenues. Almost all economists on both the left and the right decry the AMT and welcome its abolition. It is complicated, time-consuming to calculate, and increasingly impacts on those in the lower and middle classes...

Since the 1980s, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) has done an excellent job of bringing obnoxious pork barrel spending to our attention, but it looks like they have some serious competition these days. Republican Senators are beating CAGW to the punch by issuing press releases promoting their own pork. Within 24 hours of voting on the TTHUD appropriations bill, Republican Senators rushed to issued press releases proudly taking credit for allocating our money to their earmarked projects. No effort is being made to cut spending in order to finance the federal money needed for hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Senators Frist...

"The pledge not to waste our tax dollars rings hollow," says Stephen Moore, president of the Club for Growth and a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, "given that in a matter of days he will sign into law a budget-buster that provides money for Alaska skating rinks, Michigan swimming pools and Iowa indoor rain forests." Moore is referring to President Bush's pronouncement in his State of the Union address that "we must spend tax dollars wisely" and the complete lack of opposition from the White House to the mile-high pile of pork in the recently passed fiscal 2004 Omnibus...

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today applauded President Bush for withholding $5.1 billion in emergency spending included in the anti-terror supplemental bill. President Bush announced his decision to withhold the money at an economic forum in Waco, Texas, saying Congress had irresponsibly loaded the anti-terrorism bill with projects unrelated to national security. "President Bush is making good on his threats to reign in Congressional overspending," CAGW President Tom Schatz said. "In a time of war and recession, Congress continues to treat the national treasury like a trillion-dollar cookie jar. The President is now the country's last line of defense against...