The Heritage Foundation is out with a great analysis today of how Washington is spending your money this year.
According to its report, the government will spend $33,880 per household this year. That’s the highest in history and represents and $8,000 increase over last year. Hertiage provides this sort of itemized bill for where your money is going:
Washington will spend this $33,880 per household as follows:
Social Security/Medicare: $9,418. The 15.3 percent payroll tax, split evenly between the employer and employee, covers most of these costs. This system can remain sustainable only if there are enough workers to support all retirees, which is why it risks collapsing under the weight of 77 million retiring baby boomers. If nothing is done, taxes eventually will need to rise by $12,000 per household (adjusted for both inflation and rising incomes) to pay all promised benefits.
Financial Bailouts: $6,328. Most of this $746 billion tab comes from the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), which President Obama wants to double in size. In addition, $100 billion will bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and $100 billion will be spent by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to guarantee bank deposits at failing banks.
Energy and Commerce worked until midnight last night, and will reconvene at 10am this morning. They are expected to finish their health care markup sometime this afternoon.
Last night’s most heated debates in E&C revolved around publicly-funded abortions. Lois Capps was able to pass an amendment permitting the Democrats’ government plan to cover elective abortions. Reps. Pitts and Stupak followed that up with an amendment of their own, prohibiting abortions from being covered under the government plan. That amendment passed. Finally, Chairman Waxman reconsidered the vote–switched Bart Gordon’s vote–and defeated the amendment. The result of all of this dizzying maneuvering? Taxpayer-funded abortions are indeed covered by the Democrats’ bill.
President Obama changes course on the stimulus. Where are the jobs? House Republicans offer a real plan to create jobs and get our economy moving again. To view the Obama vs Obama video click here.
Jack has joined with a growing number of congressmen who have pledged not to support any healthcare reform legislation that he has not read in its entirety and that has not been available, in its entirety, to the American people on the internet for at least 72 hours, so that they can read it too.
Since taking office just seven months ago, the president has skirted the Senate confirmation process and given unprecedented power to individuals, allowing them to oversee major offices within the federal government. Many of whom operate only under the supervision of the White House itself and do not report to a cabinet secretary or Congress. Congressman Kingston has introduced H.R. 3226 to ban czar funding. For more information visit kingston.house.gov/czar
A new CBS Poll out this week shows that 75% of Americans believe President Obama’s economic “stimulus” has either made the economy worse or had no impact. From the poll:
“So far, do you think th federal government’s stimulus package has made the economy better, made the economy worse, or has it had no impact on the economy so far?’
21% - Obama “stimulus” has made the economy better
The General Services Administration announced yesterday that the White House’s recovery.gov will get an $18 million face lift. From ABC News’ The Note:
For those concerned about stimulus spending, the General Services Administration sends word tonight that $18 million in additional funds are being spent to redesign the Recovery.gov Web site. (Full Article)
FOX News’ Mike Emanuel broadcasting live from the White House discusses the overwhelming number of czars appointed by the Obama Administration and an amendment offered by Jack to withhold funding from any specially-appointed czar not confirmed by the United States Senate as required by Article II, Section 2 of the United States Constitution.
To view a clip of Jack speaking on the House floor about the czars, click here.
For more information on the amendment, click here.
Jack on the House floor this morning in regards to the overwhelming reliance on specially appointed czars by the Obama Administration. As you may remember, Jack offered an amendment last night that would have withheld funding from these czars until they are Senate confirmed.
With six-figure salaries and staff abounding, why should the American people be forced to pay millions of their tax dollars for these czars that have bypassed Congress?
To be sure, this isn’t just a Republican concern - Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV), the President Pro Tempore of the Democrat-controlled Senate, released this statement back in February expressing his concern on the issue.
As you may remember, Jack was able to strip $100,000 from a bill which funds the legislative branch for a rarely-used “Wheels for Wellness” program which provides bikes to congressional staff (floor video) and recorded a web video about the program.
One of the papers which covers Congress, The Hill, picked up on the story. From today’s paper:
“Officials and lawmakers may end the House’s bike-sharing program, which as of March had only been used by 175 staffers since its inception.
The Chief Administrative Office (CAO) spent $23,000 to lease and maintain 30 bicycles beginning last July. Eight months later, the bikes had been used by less than 3 percent of the House’s staff.
The 175 people signed up for the program have used the bikes a total of 300 times. That means some people have likely used the program only once, and each bike has been ridden about 10 times.”
From Jack on the program:
“The bike program is so silly…Why is it silly? It is not available, except for on weekdays from 8 to 5. So when I have an employee come to work, I expect them to be working, not riding bikes provided for by hardworking taxpayers.”
The House Rules Committee has posted a full list of the amendments to the Agriculture Appropriations submitted to them. The bill is expected to be considered tomorrow (click here for a fact sheet).
Among them, six were offered by Jack:
Kingston (GA) - Would prohibit funds in the bill from being used to inspect catfish under the Federal Meat Inspection Act other than the species icataluridae.
� Kingston (GA) - Would strike the provision in the bill prohibiting use of funds to establish or implement a rule allowing poultry products to be imported into the U.S. from China.
� Kingston (GA) - Would prohibit funds in the bill from being used to award quality control bonus payments to certain states that have conferred automatic eligibility for SNAP benefits and relaxed or eliminated the evaluation of participants’ resources (AZ, CA, DE, GA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, NY, ND, OH, OR, PA, SC, TX, WA, WV, and WI).
� Kingston (GA) - Would prohibit funds from being used to administer or pay the salary of personnel who administer any broadband loans or loan guarantees on or before September 30, 2010.
� Kingston (GA) - Would bar funds to entities for contractors that are eligible but do not participate in E-Verify.
� Kingston (GA) - Would prohibit any funds in the bill from being used to provide rental housing assistance, or a direct or guaranteed loan subsidy, to any alien who is illegally residing in the U.S.
According to the latest Rasmussen Reports survey, 60% of Americans oppose the passage of a second “stimulus” plan. This comes just a day after Vice President Joe Biden admitted the Obama Administration ‘misread’ the economy and that a second “stimulus” may be needed since the first trillion dollar boondoggle hasn’t worked.
Despite a majority in opposition to a second “stimulus,” 68% of voters believe it’s at least somewhat likely that President Obama and Democrats in Congress will try to pass another economic stimulus this year.
The survey also shows that nearly one-third of Americans believe the first “stimulus” has hurt the economy, 45% favor cancelling new government spending in the stimulus and 76% of Americans believe it is at least somewhat likely that a large amount of money in the first stimulus wil be wasted.
