Today, I was honored by the Club for Growth with the Defender of Economic Freedom Award. 49 Members of the House and 6 Senators received the award as well.

This award is granted to those members who demonstrate a strong commitment to economic freedom and free-market principals.  In order to receive this award, reciepients must have earned at least a 90% rating on the Club for Growth’s most recent scorecard. 

For your convenience I have listed the winners below.

A few days ago, the IRS has released data showing the percentage of income taxes paid by Americans.  Courtesy of the National Taxpayers Union, the table below shows, the top 10% of filers paid nearly 71% of all income taxes paid. The share paid by the bottom 50% drops from 3.07% in 2005 to 2.99% in 2006. You can see previous years here. You can also see "who doesn't pay taxes" here.

For Tax Year 2006

 

Today, The Hill reported on several lawmakers happy with current prospects on earmarking….mainly because they stand to increase their share of pork at the trough if more members of congress take no earmark pledges

The average GOP member brought home $10.5 million in earmarks last year.  With roughly 36 members abstaining this year, GOP earmarkers are slated to better that mark by about $2 million each, and it shows…

Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-OH) said in the article, “I would hope a hundred of my colleagues would not request earmarks.”   

Rep. James Walsh (R-NY) went on to confirm that members stand to receive more money for earmarks by saying, “If there are fewer requests, there should be more money to go around.”

Rep. David Hobson (R-OH) added, “It is not going be to helpful to win back the majority,” Hobson said, arguing that earmarks help members get elected to Congress. Instead, anti-earmark groups like the Club for Growth and the RSC are “eating their own.”

“It is easier to b---h than to govern. It seems the Club for Growth, and the RSC want to complain.”

It is plain as day that we still have many Republicans as well as Democrats who continue to engage in unabashed earmarking. 

On a lighter note, Mr. Hobson and Mr. Walsh have both announced retirement plans.  Let’s hope their successors recognize the need for change. 

According to a recent report from the Washington Post, medical suppliers have billed Medicare up to $92 million dollars for wheelchairs and various other pieces of home medical equipment.  Unfortunately for the American taxpayer, those claims were filed using the names and identification numbers of deceased physicians.

Senate investigators estimate that between 384,730 and 572,238 fraudulent claims have been honored by The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) since 2000. 

It's no wonder that since 1990 Medicare has been a familiar sight on the GAO's "high risk" list. 

You may remember my exchange with Rep. Charles B. Rangel last year when I questioned his earmark for $2 million for the Charles B. Rangel Center of Public Policy.

Today, the Washington Post reported on a letter writing campaign Mr. Rangel has engaged in, soliciting contributions from corporations and foundations for his Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Policy at the City College of New York.  Furthermore, these letters were sent on Congressional stationary to leaders throughout the business community, flaunting the fact that he is Chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee.  

Rangel has been soliciting donations from a variety of business leaders many of whom have business interests in the decisions of his committee, which has broad jurisdiction over tax policy, trade, Social Security and Medicare.

Chairman Rangel has also managed to secure two Department of Housing and Urban Development grants totaling $690,500 to help renovate the college-owned Harlem building that is slated to house the center.

That’s almost $3 million of your tax dollars, so Chairman Rangel can build a Monument to Himself. 

Ridiculous.

When will the Washington insiders get it?  Today, The Hill, a Capitol Hill newspaper reported about an earmark from Democratic Congressman Paul Kanjorski (PA), which the Department of Transportation (DOT) is actively opposing.  

The earmark, from the 2005 transportation appropriation bill is for the construction of a $5.6 million parking garage next to…..the Kanjorski Center.  The reason for the obstruction?  It does not comply with federal rules, which state “only if they are connected to other public transportation facilities outside a business area with a population of 50,000 or more, or if it serves high-occupancy vehicles (HOVs) and public mass transportation passengers.”

The DOT has taken issue with more than 20 of Mr. Kanjorski’s earmarks in the past several years, and now the local communities have problems with Kanjorski’s earmarks, because they often benefit groups associated with his family members.

To top it off, the “Kanjorski Center” which was to receive the $5.6 million parking garage currently stands empty.  That’s right, no one occupies the building but Mr. Kanjorski feels it necessary to send your tax dollars to build a parking garage.

A “monument to me”, an unused building, a parking lot, family connections, and a rules violation…No it’s not a Hollywood blockbuster….it’s the United States Congress.

Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), released its Monthly Budget Review, and not to my surprise it stated “The federal government incurred a deficit of $268 billion for the first nine months of fiscal year 2008, CBO estimates, $148 billion more than the shortfall recorded during the same period in 2007.”

CBO also estimates that about $79 billion of that change is a direct result of the Economic Stimulus Act that passed the House at the beginning of this year.

We are now seeing the direct effect from reckless spending without reductions elsewhere.  I have said it before and I will say it now, both Republicans and Democrats need to understand that if we continue on our current course we are on a collision course for the highest debt in American history.

This past week in Congress, we considered a bill that that would try to sue our way to lower gas prices as well as another bill to create subsidies for only federal employees to take public transportation to work.

All I can say is are you kidding me? 

The cartoon below has a greater meaning after this week.

Summer means many things.  For kids, school has let out, for friends and family it means many backyard barbeques, but for Congress it means one thing….Pork.

This morning Citizens Against Government Waste released its preliminary report of 6 of the House’s appropriations bills, and already earmarks are at a higher level than that of last year.  But you don’t have to take my word for it, look for yourself.

Commerce, Justice, Science:  CAGW has documented 1,123 projects at a cost of $409.8 million.

Energy & Water:  CAGW found 655 projects at a cost of $821 million.

Financial Services:  There are 197 projects costing $57 million, which represents a 45 percent increase in projects and an 84 percent increase in dollar amounts from CAGW’s calculation for the fiscal year 2008 House bill.

Interior:  For fiscal year 2009, CAGW has enumerated 247 projects at a cost of $134.9 million.  In fiscal year 2008, CAGW found 226 projects worth $111 million in the House bill.  The 2009 totals represent a 9.3 percent increase in projects and a 21.5 percent increase in dollar amount from 2008.

Labor/HHS:  For fiscal year 2009, CAGW calculated that there are 1,370 earmarks at a cost of $618.8 million.  In fiscal year 2008, CAGW found 1,305 projects costing $277.9 million in the House bill.  The number of projects increased by 5 percent, but the dollar amount jumped by a whopping 122 percent.

Military Construction:  CAGW found 102 earmarks costing $621.3 million.

In the past year, I along with several of my fellow “earmark warriors” have advocated for sweeping reforms of the earmark process.  One of the main pillars of this effort is the complete and outright disclosure of all earmarks requests.  Our friends over at the Sunlight Foundation have compiled a list of members who are currently transparent in their earmark requests, those who aren’t, and those who have currently abstained from earmarking. 

Click here to see the list in full.

Last Friday, Congressman Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI), spoke on the House floor about the intricacies of “how to speak Democrat.”  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

On Friday I spoke about the current fiscal situation in the United States.  I hope this short video enlightens you to the current situation we are dealing with, or should I say not dealing with this Congress.

We all care about the environment, but passing legislation like the Warner-Lieberman Climate Change bill will have very little effect on global warming.  However, the effect on a struggling economy would be devastating.

You have heard and will continue to hear Democrats talk about the unemployment rate and the need to pass extended unemployment benefits; all the while they will attempt to pass economy killing legislation.

They are either severely misguided in their judgment or this is just part of their plan to move everyone over to a government sponsored society.

An AP article that was published yesterday, says a lot about the pervasive spending and earmarking culture that exists here in Washington D.C.

Frank Cushing, former Staff Director for the House Committee on Appropriations under Congressman Jerry Lewis (R-CA), and now a lobbyist for the National Group stated in the article,

"I know a bunch of members that if you go in to see them, somewhere in the conversation they somehow say, 'Well, we were looking through our list of campaign contributors and didn't happen to see you there…is there a quid pro quo? No, not directly, but you'd have to be pretty dense not to figure it out."

Another lobbyist who declined to be identified said:

"You can ask any lobbyist in town. You bring a new client in to see a member and everything is nice-nice and you have a good meeting and everybody's exchanging business cards, within 48 hours, the clients and their lobbyist - me - will get a fundraising phone call."

Obviously, this is a bi-partisan problem, but this sort of devil may care attitude is ridiculous and needs to stop.  Taxpayers are sick and tired of this subversive and counterproductive brand of politics.

Gas is approaching $5 a gallon, we have nearly a half trillion dollar deficit, unemployment has risen to 5.5%, and we just voted on whether or not to celebrate the end of the Revolutionary War.

I don't think any further comment is needed.