Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Wasting Tax Payer Dollars

Tired of the twenty four hour wall to wall tedious coverage of the narcissistic New Jersey governor’s “Bridgegate” train wreck?  Exhausted by coverage so vapid it has been reduced to asking “What did the governor NOT know…and when did he NOT know it?”  Then join us as we turn our attention to our friends on the Hill.
Word out of Washington is that the world’s most dysfunctional deliberative body has reached an accord on a massive $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill.  The bill would extend the short term deal cut a few months ago and avoid a repeat of last year’s politically disastrous 16-day government shutdown.
Lawmakers went out of their way to congratulate themselves on this bi-partisan agreement.  “This agreement shows the American people that we can compromise and that we can govern,” said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski, D-MD.
Congratulations on doing your job!
To be fair, there are some good things in the bill.  It restores some of the sequestration cuts to domestic agencies for education, research, mental health and veteran’s benefits, to name a few. 
Far more interesting is what is NOT in the bill.
The bill fails to address what polls show are the two greatest concerns of majority of the American people.  It does not extend the unemployment benefits that are a critical lifeline for 1.3 (soon to be 4.9) million long term unemployed.  And it offers no apparatus for the creation of new good paying jobs.
Democrats say that the extension of unemployment benefits is critical because the funds provide immediate assistance to the needy and are poured directly back into the economy, thereby creating economic growth.  Republicans say that the best way to help the unemployed is not through government handouts but by creating good paying jobs.
This bill does neither.
Any deliberative funding measure that fails to address the most pressing needs of the American people is nothing more than a waste of their hard earned tax dollars.    
      

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