As we pointed out yesterday, $18 billion will not solve our annual deficit spending problems or our $16 TRILLION national debt. But when you multiply this sample of one hundred by tens of thousands of other government projects not included in the Wastebook you find that there is a case to be made to curb this wasteful habit.
But while these individual projects and programs are disgraceful, there is a single overarching problem that facilitates all of this wealth destruction. Consider what Senator Coburn thinks about the Washington political class and Congress:
- Congress is on pace to make history for the least productive legislative year since 1947.
- This Congress has passed only 61 bills and made law in 2012 to date.
- Even taking into account bills the House and Senate are expected to pass in the November lame-duck session, the current Congress could easily have the lowest level of legislative activity since statistics began being tabulated, according to the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call.
- The inability and incompetence of Congress to get things done has resulted in the lowest public approval in the nearly four decades, as measured by Gallup.
- A whopping 83% of Americans disapprove of “the way Congress is doing its job.”
- The poor ratings given Congress are consistent across the political spectrum with approval from only 9% of Democrats, 11% of Independents, and 10 % of Republicans. In other words, Americans are divided on just about every issue except the fact they mostly thing our Washington politicians are doing a horrible job.
- The Senate has cast fewer votes in 2012 far this year than any year in decades.
- More than 20 of the 100 Senators have not had a single amendment considered on the Senate floor in 2012. Certainly good work if you can get it. High salaries, great benefits, and no need to contribute anything of value to the country.
- And after blocking senators from offering fixes to bills throughout the year, the Majority Leader of what once was the world’s greatest deliberative body publicly announced from the Senate floor, “I will say this so it will save a lot of trouble for anybody. … Amendment days are over.” So much for intelligent debate and compromise, so much for democracy.
- A number of important committees within both the House and the Senate are failing to do the important work for which they are responsible.
- Perhaps the most striking disappointment is the Senate Budget Committee. Since the last real Federal budget was passed on April 29, 2009, Washington has spent $11.2 trillion and added more than $4.8 trillion to the national debt.
- With the national debt now over $16 trillion, never before have taxpayers needed a budget blueprint more to guide our nation away from fiscal ruin and stop the idiotic spending on idiotic programs and projects.
- However, the Senate Budget Committee has failed to produce a budget, which it is required to do by law, in over 1,200 days.
- In addition to not producing a budget resolution, the committee has also refused to hold many committee meetings, a key tool for Congress to conduct oversight, investigate problems, seek solutions, initiate conversation and debate, and advance an agenda.
- The Senate Budget Committee held a mere 12 hearings in 2012, fewer than all but five other congressional committees from both chambers.
- Likewise, the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees about three-fourths of the Federal budget including all of the major health care and retirement entitlement programs and the Federal tax code has done little in 2012.
- Despite its broad jurisdiction, the Finance Committee reported out and discharged only 11 legislative measures.
- These included a non-binding resolution supporting the goals and ideals of “National Save for Retirement Week” and a resolution authorizing the committee’s own expenditures.
- The Senate Finance Committee held just 28 hearings this year (as of September 1).
- Overall, the committee places in the top ten least productive of all Congressional committees in terms of approving legislation and the top ten Senate committees holding the fewest number of hearings. Again, this is probably the most important Senate committee and also the least productive.
- Despite the importance of small business to our nation’s economy and their recent struggles, the small business committees of both chambers tied for first place as the committee approving the least amount of legislation in 2012. No wonder that small businesses are not driving any kind of economic revival.
- The Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee held only four hearings and passed out just three measures, one of which authorized expenditures for the committee itself.
- Likewise, the House Small Business Committee reported out just three bills and held 31 hearings, which is significantly more than its counterpart in the Senate, but fewer than most of the other committees in the House.
- Two other committees have been largely idle this year: the Senate’s Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee and Special Committee on Aging.
- The Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry reported out and discharged just seven measures, one of which was to provide for its own budget, and held a mere nine hearings.
- The Aging Committee reported out a single measure, which was to provide for its own budget, and held just nine hearings.
- Whether it was failing to hold oversight hearings, pass laws, cut unnecessary spending, or simply cast votes on amendments, the U.S. Congress let taxpayers down in 2012.
- Article 1, Section 9 of the U.S. Constitution entrusts Congress with the responsibility to approve how money is spent out of the Treasury and to account for such expenditures. It is obvious that the current set of Washington politicians are in violation of this Constitutional responsibility.
- Regarding the 100 examples of wasteful spending, Congress approved every cent spent to fund the projects outlined in this report and did nothing to stop any of these expenditures.
- In fact, in many cases members of Congress actually took credit for the projects with no shame.
- All of the outrageous and wasteful contents of this report were made possible by either the action or lack of action of Congress, earning it the well-deserved but unwanted distinction as the biggest waste of taxpayer money in 2012.
But the Obama administration is not much better:
- It has not tried to reign in our mounting $16 TRILLION debt. Its budget proposals have been UNANIMOUSLY defeated by votes in the House and Senate in 2012.
- It has not tried to reign in the hundreds of billions of dollars that Social Security, Medicaid, food stamps, and unemployment benefit programs lose every year to criminal fraud, waste, redundancy, and inefficiencies.
- It has not clamped down on tax evaders via the IRS and Justice Department, tax evasion that cost honest taxpayers over $380 billion a year.
- It has not fulfilled the President;s campaign promise to cut wasteful earmark spending in half.
- The President has spent more time touring the world, playing golf, attending fund raisers, and campaigning for reelection than any other President in recent and distant memory.
This is the world, national debt, and fading democracy our kids and grandkids will inherit. All because our current set of politicians thought it was more productive to spend money on beef jerky research than any issue that was relevant to most Americans or to just let Americans keep their wealth and taxes to spend as they see fit for their families.
As we said yesterday, no American, rich or poor, should have to spend more in taxes along as lists like the Wastebook 100 exist.
We invite all readers of this blog to visit our new website, "The United States Of Purple," at:
http://www.unitedstatesofpurple.com/
The United States of Purple is a new grass roots approach to filling the office of President of The United States by focusing on the restoration of freedom in the United States, focusing on problem solving skills and results vs. personal political enrichment, and imposing term limits on all future Federal politicians. No more red states, no more blue states, just one United States Of America under the banner of Purplee.
The United States Of Purple's website also provides you the formal opportunity to sign a petition to begin the process of implementing a Constitutional amendment to impose fixed term limits on all Federally elected politicians. Only by turning out the existing political class can we have a chance of addressing and finally resolving the major issues of or times.
Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at www.loathemygovernment.com. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom:
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blgspot.com/
http://www.flipcongres2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment/
No comments:
Post a Comment