Page 374 – Taxpayers Protection Alliance

Taxpayer Group Urges Pentagon to Ground Faulty Aircraft Procurement

Post author:David Williams
Post published:December 29, 2011
Post category:David Williams Defense Taxpayers Protection Alliance

On Friday November 18, 2011, the Obama Administration and the Pentagon made a decision to ship jobs overseas and put a critical defense project at risk by disqualifying aircraft manufacturer Hawker Beechcraft from the Light Air Support and Light Attack and Armed Reconnaissance (LAS/LAAR) procurement competition. That leaves only one company left to fulfill the order, the Brazilian company Embraer. On December 29, 2011, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) supported Hawker Beechcraft’s federal suit to get answers from the Pentagon and urged the Pentagon to halt the procurement and provide answers to taxpayers and the country as to why Hawker Beechcraft was disqualified.

Congress Can’t Resist Temptation to Add Earmarks to Spending Bill

Post author:David Williams
Post published:December 27, 2011
Post category:Appropriations Congress David Williams Defense Earmarks Omnibus Appropriations Taxpayers Protection Alliance

When Congress passed the multi-thousand-page Omnibus spending bill right before their Christmas vacation, they forgot to tell taxpayers about the earmarks hidden in the bill. The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) uncovered 89 earmarks worth $3 billion in the Defense section of the bill (click here to see the full list) despite the insistence of both political parties that that the bill was free of earmarks and the claim that Congress stuck to their self-imposed ban on earmarks. Government watchdogs and taxpayers had very little opportunity to scrutinize the spending bill since it was released early Thursday (12/15) morning and voted on Friday (12/16) afternoon. The initial links to the legislation only contained legislative language and not report details. The release of the conference report details occurred after votes by the House and the Senate. This was a shameful lack of transparency and fiscal responsibility. What was more disappointing is that Congress showed some bit of fiscal restraint in the bill, but the inclusion of earmarks shows that the temptation of earmarks will always be present. One (of the many) New Year’s resolutions Congress should make is to truly ban earmarks and not be able to vote any piece of legislation that contains earmarks.

Stimulus Update: Broadband Program Doesn’t Connect (Part II)

Post author:David Williams
Post published:December 22, 2011
Post category:Broadband David Williams Taxpayers Protection Alliance Telecommunications

Last week, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) reported on the failure of the National Telecommunications Information Administration’s (NTIA) Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) to complete any projects (read full posting here). Now, as promised, Part II of the series focuses on the Rural Utilities Service’s (RUS) $2.5 billion handout from taxpayers through The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (aka The Stimulus Bill) for broadband deployment. Even with less money allocated to it than BTOP, RUS has experienced more problems and even bigger questions about the federal government’s role in funding broadband.

BREAKING NEWS: TPA FINDS EARMARKS IN DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS BILL

Post author:David Williams
Post published:December 20, 2011
Post category:Appropriations David Williams Defense Earmarks Omnibus Appropriations Taxpayers Protection Alliance

Today, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) uncovered 89 earmarks worth $3 billion in the Defense Appropriations Bill that was part of the 1,200 page Omnibus Bill passed by Congress last week (click here to see the full list). This discovery proves that even though members of Congress pledged to not fund earmarks they just can’t resist the temptation. Government watchdogs and taxpayers had very little opportunity to scrutinize the spending bill since it was released early Thursday (12/15) morning and voted on Friday (12/16) afternoon. The initial links to the legislation only contained legislative language and not report details. The release of the conference report details occurred after votes by the House and the Senate. This was a shameful lack of transparency and fiscal responsibility. All of the projects listed by TPA did not receive a budget request by the Department of Defense.

Keystone XL Pipeline Makes Good Fiscal Sense

Post author:David Williams
Post published:December 19, 2011
Post category:David Williams Energy Oil Taxpayers Protection Alliance

There has been quite a bit of debate about the Keystone XL Pipeline with one side calling for its construction and the other side trying to make sure that it is never built. In early November President Obama put a halt to the pipeline and the State Department indicated that they wouldn’t make a decision until 2013, well after the 2012 elections. The truth is that the XL Pipeline will be good for the economy, the government, and the entire country. First, it is important to understand the facts about the pipeline. The proposed pipeline, which would carry roughly 700,000 barrels of oil per day from Alberta, Canada, to refineries on the Gulf Coast, would encompass 1,700 miles and cost approximately $7 billion. The pipeline would be an extension of one that became operational in 2010.

Stimulus Update: Broadband Program Doesn’t Connect (Part I)

Post author:David Williams
Post published:December 16, 2011
Post category:Broadband David Williams Drew Johnson Taxpayers Protection Alliance Telecommunications

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (aka The Stimulus Bill) was supposed to lift the country out of its recession and be an engine for economic growth and job creation. More than two years and $800 billion later, the taxpayer horror stories are still rolling in (read TPA Senior Fellow Drew Johnson’s blog posting on stimulus funded alligator wrestling here). Now, we find out that one of the key programs of the stimulus bill has had ZERO success. According to a December 12, 2011 article in the Daily Caller, “As of the third quarter of 2011, no projects from the federal government’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) — a technology stimulus program funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) — have been completed.” This revelation comes as no surprise to the many folks who questioned the expenditure when it was first announced.

Crisis Budgeting: Last Minute Deals End Up Hurting Taxpayers

Post author:David Williams
Post published:December 14, 2011
Post category:Appropriations Congress Congressional Budget Office David Williams Debt Debt Ceiling Taxpayers Protection Alliance

It is less than two weeks before Christmas and Congress has not finished work on fiscal year (FY) 2012 appropriations bills (they were supposed to be done by October 1). This failure to get their work done should come as no surprise since 2011 has been filled with un-kept promises and crisis politics as Congress has waited until the last minute to finish most of their budgetary work in 2011. The pseudo budget crisis in April when a government shutdown was threatened when Congress failed to pass a budget for FY 2011, the impending downgrade of the nation’s credit status in August with the raising of the debt ceiling (and the ensuing failure of the super committee in November), and the current looming government shutdown shows that when push comes to shove in Washington, D.C., the status quo pushes back and taxpayers get shoved.

Congress Has Another Opportunity to Kill a Wasteful and Unnecessary CDC Program

Post author:David Williams
Post published:December 13, 2011
Post category:David Williams Taxes Taxpayers Protection Alliance

On October 11, 2011, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance urged the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee to defund Community Transformation Grants (CTG) funded through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The Prevention and Public Health Fund, which funds this CDC program along with its predecessor, Communities Putting Prevention to Work, was originally created under the stimulus bill. So far, the government has put more than $1 billion towards these “wellness” programs under The Prevention and Public Health Fund (read previous blog postings here and here). Now, taxpayers have another shot at defunding the program. With less than two weeks before Christmas, taxpayers will find out which members of Congress have been naughty and which have been nice. One way to ensure a coal-less stocking would be to defund CTG. Congress has that opportunity today as they vote on the payroll tax cut in the House that contains a provision to defund CTG’s to offset the tax cut.

Adding Content to Techniques – Education Needs a Facelift

Post author:Todd Kruse
Post published:December 9, 2011
Post category:Debt Education Taxpayers Protection Alliance

(Todd Kruse, guest blogger for TPA, is a citizen and taxpayer from Minnesota) During my undergraduate years, my friend Brenda was working on her “double E” degree – no not Electrical Engineering as the campus slang is translated but instead she was pursuing an Elementary Education degree. I remember discussing some news event with her when she replied, “oh I have no idea, I am too busy studying………….” This is America’s problem for both our K-12 education system and our media industry - our teachers’ colleges and journalism schools appear to be completely dominated by teaching the techniques and theories of teaching and of journalism. It is now time to add some content.

Identifying Wasteful Spending Doesn’t Have to be Partisan

Post author:David Williams
Post published:December 7, 2011
Post category:Congress Obamacare Taxpayers Protection Alliance

Taxpayers have been accustomed to Republicans talking about government waste and identifying where to cut out the fat. In some cases, Democrats have even given up on looking and claim that it is tough to identify where the waste, fraud, and abuse is occurring. For example, after Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) announced his retirement he was interviewed by Chris Matthews on MSNBC. When asked about where government could cut, Rep. Frank responded that “People say we are going to cut out the fat as if the fat was made on the side. Yes, there`s fat, but it`s marbles. There`s inefficiency in any human activity --the waste, fraud, and abuse is so marbled throughout the government and the various bureaucracies that it is difficult to get rid of the waste.” Besides the ridiculous story of a welfare recipient owning a $1.2 million house (read here), there are plenty of examples from members of both parties about where to trim the fat.