Posts Tagged ‘earmarks’
Photo Credit: The Washington Post
Washington DC is rolling in pork. We don’t meat all those BBQ ribs consumed at Super Bowl Parties (Who Dat?!).
No, we are talking about pork-barrel spending. That’s when politicians grab government funds for pet projects in their congressional districts.
Now, to be fair, every politician does this. If congress folk bring home the Bacon (hence the term “Pork”) to their district voters love ‘em for it. Who doesn’t like somebody else’s money being spent on them?
But there are some in Congress who are artfully abusing working this system. The most notorious example might be Alabama Senator Richard Shelby’s $40 billion pet project (yes, that is Billion with a B).
His local project wants to take taxpayer money to create air-to-air refueling tankers and an explosive testing lab for the FBI (let’s hope the the exposive testing does not take place inside the fuel tankers).
Okay…maybe the USA needs these projects…but Senator Shelby has a curious way of convincing opponents to support him: he is using BLACKMAIL.
The powerful Senator has decided to block any of the Obama administration’s nominees (and there are loads) until he gets his Mega Billion Payout. …read more.
