Newsletter has been active this month bombarding Congress with letters and e,mails against the Cap and Trade bill and against the Health Care bill Congress seems bent upon inflicting on us (see items 2 and 3). Also we again see Rep. Maxine Waters is porker of the Month. I believe she must hold the title at this point. BB
Porker of the Month: Rep. Maxine Waters
Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) has named Rep. Maxine Waters
(D-Calif.) Porker of the Month for provoking a tussle with House
Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) over her
intention to obtain an earmark for the Maxine Waters Employment
Preparation Center, a facility within the Los Angeles school
system. Rep. Waters‘ grandiose gesture is a reminder that
Congress still has not banned the practice of earmarking taxpayer
funds for pork projects, including monuments, academic facilities,
roads, airports and water projects, that are named after
themselves. Rep. Obey appears to grasp that such narcissistic
expenditures fuel the negative image of Congress and is proactively
trying to keep them out of the fiscal year 2010 appropriations bills,
particularly since Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) has successfully
attached amendments to ban such projects to several appropriations
bills. To placate Rep. Waters’ need for recognition
and the desire of some members of Congress to leave behind a living
legacy, even one that is built with pork-barrel earmarks, CAGW happily
obliges, endowing Rep. Waters with the coveted June Porker of the
Month. Read more about the Porker of the Month.
http://www.cagw.org/site/R?i=R_GFvBs24-Kzl_hyrl4TWA..
CCAGW Members Urged Defeat of Waxman-Markey
Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) members flooded
Capitol Hill over the past month with e-mails and phone calls urging
House members to vote against the cap-and-trade energy bill introduced
by Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.). CCAGW
members across the nation ultimately sent more than 22,500 e-mails to
the House of Representatives opposing the American Clean Energy
and Security Act of 2009. In a vote that went down to the
wire, the House passed the bill by a slim margin of 219-212. If
approved by the Senate, the bill would empower the federal bureaucracy
to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and could raise the average
American family’s energy bill by as much as $1,500 annually,
according to The Heritage Foundation. Cap-and-trade is a
“job killer, a massive new drag on an already weakened economy,
a down payment on a massive wasteful new bureaucracy, and a crushing
new financial burden on working Americans and businesses,”
stated CCAGW President Tom Schatz. Read more about
“cap-and-trade” and CCAGW’s grassroots efforts
http://www.cagw.org/site/R?i=QKDmDAtR_odgc67AzpTtrg..
.
http://www.cagw.org/site/R?i=sEvDpkYgtX-FBKZ_ryWAlQ..
CCAGW Says $1 Trillion Estimates for Kennedy Healthcare Bill
Pie-in-the-Sky
CCAGW has advised lawmakers that the June 15, 2009 Congressional
Budget Office (CBO) cost estimates for the Affordable Health Choices
Act, Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman
Ted Kennedy’s (D-Mass.) healthcare overhaul bill, are woefully
underestimated. CBO found that for its $1 trillion price tag
over a 10-year period, the Kennedy plan would only insure an
additional 16 million people out of the estimated 50 million uninsured
Americans. The cost is equal to a $6,250 annual healthcare
premium per individual, which is 33 percent higher than the annual
average premium of $4,700 per person for private insurance
plans. “The CBO cost estimate is dangerously low, since
critically important information about the bill has been conveniently
omitted, including the…size of the government-run plan…It
defies logic that Congress and the White House are insisting on
creating a government-run plan when Medicare, the largest
government-run plan, is about to go bankrupt,” asserted CCAGW
President Tom Schatz. Read more about Sen. Kennedy’s
healthcare bill
http://www.cagw.org/site/R?i=MmNYW8hj5TEZTmPFENtQyw..
.
CCAGW Blasts House Defense Committee for Funding JSF Alternate Engine
CCAGW this month blasted members of the House Armed Services Air and
Land Forces Subcommittee after they voted to authorize $603 million
for an alternate engine program for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter
(JSF) in the fiscal year 2010 Defense Authorization bill. The
proposed alternate engine for the new fighter has been the subject of
several comprehensive reports that indicate that it is duplicative and
unnecessary. According to CBS News, the U.S. Air Force and two
independent panels have concluded that the second engine is “not
necessary and not affordable” and that the alleged savings from
creating a mock competition “will never be
achieved.” The Pentagon has tried to cancel the $7.2
billion alternate engine project every year since 2006, but members of
Congress have kept it alive with earmarks. “In an era of tough
economic times and deficit spending, it is impossible to justify
spending $603 million on a program that will not save money or improve
our defense capabilities,” said CCAGW President Tom
Schatz. “This year, taxpayers may have an alternative of
their own, because President Obama singled out the alternate engine
program for elimination.” Read more about congressional
attempts to keep the JSF alternate engine program alive
http://www.cagw.org/site/R?i=nzHk_aFre69Oe1uClmm2yA..
.
House Pork-Barrel Train is Leaving the Station
CAGW has released preliminary information on earmarks in three House
appropriations bills for fiscal year 2010: Commerce, Justice,
Science; Homeland Security; and Interior and Environment. CAGW has
also released a “Pork Alert” for the fiscal 2010 National
Defense Authorization Act.
http://www.cagw.org/site/R?i=lSH-NkiUSL9mOBGreN0pVQ..
http://www.cagw.org/site/R?i=Wqyxi4B_bWjdK1AnR-l3BQ..
http://www.cagw.org/site/R?i=sVKEQHG02T2n9l3NwIIxQQ..
http://www.cagw.org/site/R?i=yc9SpeZG2-Rku1IqDPTfrQ..
Take Action!
California Residents: Help Stop a Tax Increase in Your State!
http://www.cagw.org/site/R?i=klJL3q1VA5u1bl4Q-5t_UQ..
Wisconsin Residents: Help Stop a Tax Increase in Your State!
http://www.cagw.org/site/R?i=k2BU5TRz8Ojh3ZadWXFZZA..
Visit CAGW’s Blog!
Give us your opinions and tips about government waste in your area on
“The Swine Line”!
http://www.cagw.org/site/R?i=1ga3Sq9fwha4AdCkfdfSxQ..
Pork Advisory Level: LOW
Pork Alert Low
Read more
http://www.cagw.org/site/R?i=v5utw5ZLoujnqRqQbpnCrQ..
about the Pork Advisory System.
Wastewatcher
Read the monthly newsletter online. This month’s issue includes the
articles:
http://www.cagw.org/site/R?i=JECVBTZcUDy3RWD_3Gl9fw..
Healthcare Reform: A Pricey Prescription
http://www.cagw.org/site/R?i=7pvGPHvLxMb_p6cphgQgnw..
British Expense Scandal Should be Lesson for U.S. Lawmakers
http://www.cagw.org/site/R?i=KCQCnu_lPzyzflW8EuAb6g..
A “Generic” Call for Change
http://www.cagw.org/site/R?i=7iZINl_otqhKbgSR2uPHZw..
Stimulating the Dead
http://www.cagw.org/site/R?i=QfdOPr-Wy_ZxDO54_iQhCw..
Public vs. Private: May the Best Contractor Win
http://www.cagw.org/site/R?i=C57VWbuLsM97qjHB2VzJ1w..
Shop CAGW!
Support This Site
http://www.cagw.org/site/R?i=KGxMsaCJ_vT2Ca5UNWi1zw..
Tom Schatz on CNBC Tuesdays!
CAGW President Tom Schatz is appearing on CNBC’s “Squawk Box“
every Tuesday at 6:50 a.m. EDT. Please tune in!
(All media appearances are subject to change.)
http://www.cagw.org/site/R?i=tetqQ-CsGSbs6gNnZbDYkw..
In the News…
Kansas City Star (June 27, 2009): “Obama Wants to Expand
Previously Mocked Pat Roberts Scholars Program”
http://www.cagw.org/site/R?i=qBaDDHcdNqgedGNnVOMFmw..
USA Today (June 22, 2009): “Funds Going to Districts of Key
Lawmakers”
http://www.cagw.org/site/R?i=13-kl3nUvUDYDrAavF_y6w..
CNBC’s “Squawk Box” (June 17, 2009): “The Trillion Dollar
Healthcare Plan”
http://www.cagw.org/site/R?i=Ca6QFJbv9hAFxUxnxQ5ofw..
Citizens Against Government Waste
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