Why We Can’t Trust Congress With Taxpayer Money

Today’s New York Post posted an article about the bill for Hurricane Sandy relief now before Congress. President Obama has requested $60.4 billion in relief for the victims of Hurricane Sandy.

The article reports:

The pork-barrel feast includes more than $8 million to buy cars and equipment for the Homeland Security and Justice departments. It also includes a whopping $150 million for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to dole out to fisheries in Alaska and $2 million for the Smithsonian Institution to repair museum roofs in DC.

An eye-popping $13 billion would go to “mitigation” projects to prepare for future storms.

Other big-ticket items in the bill include $207 million for the VA Manhattan Medical Center; $41 million to fix up eight military bases along the storm’s path, including Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; $4 million for repairs at Kennedy Space Center in Florida; $3.3 million for the Plum Island Animal Disease Center and $1.1 million to repair national cemeteries.

We truly need to take away the credit card away from Congress. The problem is that the money that the victims of Hurricane Sandy need will be held up if the bill is carefully scrutinized, but the taxpayers will be fleeced if the bill is not examined carefully and the pork spending removed. What we really need is a few grown-ups in Washington.

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