USA Today reported this week that billions in earmarks remain tucked into the funding measure that keeps the federal government running for the remainder of the fiscal year. Congress is debating right now how much to cut from the measure, yet these secret earmarks are not being openly discussed by members of Congress. That’s unfortunate. Earmarks should be low hanging fruit for the cost-conscious legislator. | Read More »
Yesterday, we dinged Senator Coburn for his involvement in the ‘Gang of Six’. Today, we commend him for initiating a GAO report which exposes the contempt in which the statists view taxpayers. Conservatives have always known that the promulgation of government programs was not conceived from some genuine conviction of Keynesian economics, or a professed concern for the recipients. Most government programs serve the function | Read More »
Imagine for a moment a private financial services firm caught running a ponzi scheme in which public funds were spent on lavish projects for the manager’s friends. Astoundingly, instead of incarcerating the perpetrators and returning the money to the investors, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) negotiates with the criminals. That’s right. The SEC collaborates with the criminal executives to force the public to contribute | Read More »
Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) has put out yet another excellent report on waste, fraud and abuse in federal job training programs. The report titled “Help Wanted” describes specific instances of “waste, mismanagement, and even corruption.” This report proves, in addition to other reports by Senator Coburn, that the government is a poor allocator of resources. The Coburn report indicates that these federal jobs training programs are | Read More »
Scare quotes, because it’s DC Kabuki Time! For those who are not ‘blessed’ enough to live within the Beltway – or downwind of it – this is that special time in the legislative calendar where federal politicians preserve the status quo by changing nothing at all and putting a big, red bow on the result. In this particular case, the scenario is as follows: for | Read More »
At this week’s State of the Union address, those cards in the House and Senate are going to be a little more shuffled than usual. It seems in the interest of newing up the tone and de-rhetoricizing, the boys and girls have decided to find themselves speech buddies from across the aisle. Yes, in a move certain to send shivers of intimidation down the spines | Read More »
The Senate commenced debate on a filibuster reform today. Be aware that liberals in the Senate are using strong arm tactics to seize power. They are using something called the “Constitutional Option” and you need to understand that this is a rhetorical and procedural trick. There is nothing unconstitutional about the filibuster and the “Constitutional Option” is a means to ignore the explicit rules of the | Read More »
Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) has put out a new study on government waste called “Wastebook 2010.” This report proves that the federal government is a poor allocator of resources. Somebody please alert billionares Warren Buffett, Ted Turner, Bill Gates and Tom Steyer that higher taxes will not necessarily lead to a more efficient and effective federal government. Senator Coburn said yesterday that “as 2010 ends, | Read More »
Senator Tom Coburn has had an early Christmas gift handed to him in the form of the Ominous Omnibus. Coburn, perhaps best known for making fools of the big spenders in Washington, is doing it yet again. He has set up a database where you can dig through and find all the corruption, greed, and lunacy in the Omnibus. If this doesn’t pass by Saturday, | Read More »
What do you call the Senate’s Omnibus Spending Bill? An Earmark Bonanza — An Earmark-A-Thon — The Earmark-bus. Clearly, this bill is an outrage to the taxpayer and conservative Senators. The Senate is about to vote on an Omnibus Spending Bill funding the federal government for the year. House and Senate appropriators crafted a bill in secret and, just yesterday, provided text to Senators and the American people. | Read More »
They just don’t get it here in Washington, DC. The Senate voted today for business as usual — against an amendment by Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) to ban earmarking by Senators. The vote was conducted under a suspension of the Senate’s rules, yet it garnered only 39 votes in favor of an earmark ban for the whole Senate. They love pork on Capitol Hill. | Read More »
The WikiLeaks document release will dominate the conversation inside the beltway today and this week. Tomorrow, the President’s Debt Commission will meet in an attempt to report a package of legislative items to Congress. The Commission needs 14 of 18 members to vote to report any measure and they are operating under a December 1st deadline to settle on a report. Also on Tuesday, the | Read More »
Earmark reform hits phase two this week. Now that House and Senate Republicans have promised not to earmark, the fight goes to the House and Senate Floor. Expect votes in both the House and Senate over the next few months to ban the corrupting and wasteful practice of earmarking for the whole Congress. Today, The House is voting on Senate amendments to a telecommuting bill for | Read More »
The Senate Republican Conference voted to ban earmarks yesterday. A victory for conservatives — Hold on a second. Moments after the announcement some Republicans stated that they would publicly flout the rule and Democrats pledged to fight to protect bloated pork barrel spending. Although the President has pledged his opposition to earmarking, the true test may come soon if Congress sends him an Omnibus spending | Read More »
Not much happening in the House and Senate today. Both parties are conducing elections for leadership positions and amendments to conference rules. It appears as if Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) has won his battle for the Senate Republican Conference to take a 2 year break from earmarking. The House has 6 bills scheduled for a vote on the Suspension Calendar. The Senate is out of | Read More »
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