A Budget Boondoggle – Livable Communities?
Thursday, 17 June 2010 12:29
Yesterday, the House Budget Committee bestowed yet another one of the coveted “Budget Boondoggle Awards” on the Obama Administration and, as I suppose there won’t be any acceptance speeches made at the White House, I thought I’d share the news with you.
But, it isn’t the fact that the administration won yet another Budget Boondoggle Award that surprises me. Examples of President Obama’s waste of tax dollars abound. What really surprises me, is the subject of the award which is truly stunning:
A proposed new “Office of Livable Communities” which would cost $20 million in taxpayer dollars and is part of the administration’s proposed $527 million increase for “livable communities” initiative.
So…what exactly is a “livable community”?
Good question. The House Budget Committee asked Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to define “livability” and he responded that it, “...Means being able to take your kids to school, go to work, see a doctor, drop by the grocery or post office, go out to dinner and a movie, and play with your kids in a park, all without having to get into your car.”
Again…what? Why is the federal government spending tax dollars for what ought to be left up to state and local levels of government. And, while we are at it, do we really need another new bureaucracy in the Department of Transportation set up for the sole purpose of imposing utopian neighborhood planning approved by the agenda du jour in Washington? The short answer is No.
Spending tax money on a program as ridiculous as this almost should make it unnecessary to mention that this new spending is being proposed at time when we are facing a $1.5 trillion deficit, when we are $13 trillion in debt, and when we should be adding more private sector jobs rather than more government jobs.
• To learn more about the Budget Boondoggle Award: http://house.gov/budget_republicans/hbcboondoggleaward.shtml
• To learn more about House Budget Republicans’ efforts to cut spending now: http://house.gov/budget_republicans/press/cutspendingnow.pdf
• To learn more about House Republican Whip Eric Cantor’s effort to combat the permissive culture of runaway spending in Congress: http://republicanwhip.house.gov/YouCut/
• To speak out for yourself on the need to keep spending in check: http://www.americaspeakingout.com/
