Go Free Yourself

I posted yesterday about how federal lawmakers are, to say the least, misusing taxpayer funds. The National Taxpayers Union offers more proof of our politicians’ disregard for taxpayers with their 2007 Rating of Congress, based on every 2007 roll-call vote about spending or taxes.

“Despite campaign-trail promises from many Members of Congress to put Washington on a stricter diet, our 2007 Rating shows that, by and large, the only things shrinking on Capitol Hill are lawmakers’ pro-taxpayer scores,” NTU President Duane Parde said. “Overburdened taxpayers looking for an end to ‘earmarked’ spending, an extension of President Bush’s tax cuts, and an honest entitlement reform plan won’t like what they see in Congress’s performance so far.”

The Washington Examiner also weighed in on this problem in the Washington area, declaring that “local lawmakers spend like drunken sailors.”

Unfortunately, the voting records of the Washington-area’s senators and representatives show that most couldn’t care less about the growing burden of taxes on their constituents.

What they care about is using our tax dollars to advance their political interests.

Ho-hum, just another day. At least the Office starts again tonight!

See how your lawmakers rate here.

(Hat Tip: Mark Tapscott)

Today, Citizens Against Government Waste released the 2008 Congressional Pig Book and it’s chock full of important (yet horrifying) information about how your tax dollars were frittered away on pet projects this year—and which politicians were responsible.

The numbers speak for themselves. There were 11,610 pork-barrel projects—costing taxpayers $17.2 billion—in the fiscal 2008 budget, including:

• $4,840,870 for wood utilization research;
• $1,529,220 for the Appalachian Fruit Lab;
• $984,400 for Idaho’s strategic plan for managing noxious weeds; and
• $98,000 for a walking tour of Boydton, Va. (population 474).

Learn more about how the government is wasting your money by visiting CAGW’s website. They’re doing good work to help stop “the politics of pork” by informing Americans about how their hard-earned dollars are being misspent by elected officials. You can get involved, too—help spread the word!