March 8th, 2008 by Bob Schwartz
Not only is the centerpiece of President Bush’s “stimulus” plan going to put our government (and hence you and I) billions of dollars further into debt, it will cost us another 42 million just to tell us so.
WASHINGTON - At a cost of nearly $42 million, the IRS wants you to know: Your check is almost in the mail.
The Internal Revenue Service is spending the money on letters to alert taxpayers to expect rebate checks as part of the economic stimulus plan.
The notices are going out this month to an estimated 130 million households who filed returns for the 2006 tax year, at a cost $41.8 million, IRS spokesman John Lipold confirmed.
What’s a few million more between friends?
November 7th, 2007 by Bob Schwartz
Pork and earmarks seem to be the buzzwords of the day on the heels of the Tim Johnson sponsored $1M earmark for the Daschle Center for Public Service and Representative Democracy (what a name, how much of the $1M is for the building sign?) at SDSU. When talking pork and politics you seem to get a lot of doublespeak and hypocrisy and our Reps aren’t immune.
First Badlands Blue calls out John Thune’s criticism of earmarks in the wake of this bill considering his support of the Robert Dole Institute of Politics just a few years ago at the University of Kansas.
Gee, that’s interesting, because I could have sworn John Thune was in the House of Representatives for the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas and the name change from Washington National to Reagan National airport by bill S. 1575, which passed in the House by voice vote on February 5, 1998. John Thune supported both pieces of legislation. It is especially noteworthy that Thune voted yes for the Conference Report of the FY 1999 appropriations bill, which included the late edition earmark for the Dole Institute.
Then PP over at the SDWC calls out our lone Congress person Stephanie Herseth Sandlin who when running for office spoke out against earmarks but is now happy to let us know she supports this $1M waste of money.
“She is very supportive of the project, which will enhance the educational experience for our state’s students and improve the course offerings of one of our state’s premier universities,” Levsen said. “As a South Dakota State graduate, it’s fitting that Sen. Daschle’s papers be archived in Brookings.”
So what is missing from a listing of hypocrisy over this latest piece of pork? How about any mention of hypocrisy aimed at the South Dakota Senator who was responsible for sneaking the earmark into the appropriations bill in the first place. A little digging on my part has yet to find anyone calling him out on it because apparently he has no problem with the tactic of throwing earmarks into spending bills. In fact he has even been given special mention as having a perfect record on pork by voting against all 10 amendments he was present for that sought to reign in this wasteful practice.
The only senator receiving a 0% was Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) who voted against all 10 anti-pork amendments he was present for.
If anything, it appears no one can say that Senator Johnson has flip flopped on this issue…
November 7th, 2007 by Bob Schwartz
Yesterday I wrote how Senator John Thune wants to send $1M in tax dollars a year to allow 3 passengers a day to fly out of Brookings and this morning I see that Senator Tim Johnson is looking to waste some of our tax dollars as well. Apparently not wanting to be outdone by his Republican counterpart, Johnson is looking to send another $1M to Brookings when he quietly sponsored a $1M earmark to a federal appropriations bill that would be used to help fund the Tom Daschle Center on the SDSU campus.
A massive federal appropriations bill that includes a $1 million earmark to create a center for former Sen. Tom Daschle drew heavy fire Tuesday in Washington, D.C.
The earmark would pay for the Thomas Daschle Center for Public Service and Representative Democracy at South Dakota State University. It’s among 150 pages of earmarks in a combined bill for education, health services, veterans programs, and other areas of federal government.
The legislation is more than 850 pages and emerged Monday night out of a joint House/Senate conference committee. Within those pages is more than $215 billion of discretionary spending.
Although the bill emerged Monday night, House Democrats pressed ahead Tuesday night to force a vote. That outraged fiscal conservatives, who argue the bill is overloaded with pork.
150 pages of earmarks and $215B in discretionary spending? So much for reform.