JG editorial excerpt:They applauded.
”If people think this will help me bring home the bacon, that’s not the kind of guy I am,” – Rep. Paul Ryan, December, 2006
But Ryan’s economic liberalism of insufficient government, "anti"-social spending and political gamesmanship along with his tax cutting policies, actually will cost our country more money and more taxes in the long-run. But local newspapers and other GOP or so-called taxpayer Web pages and blogs have praised Ryan and others like him for what amounts to a zero return on their tax investment dollars. Even Politico.com jumps on the neo-con bandwagon and writes up the shortchange artists favorably.
Excerpt:To his credit? Ryan is usually listed among this group, and it's nothing to be proud of. As far as I'm concerned, we won't need representatives or a Congress if there is no return on our taxpayer dollars.
To his credit, a search for the name of RSC Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), turns up no earmarks. And Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), along with Majority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), also will go without any earmarks in this year's omnibus.
But now comes word that Ryan captured a $750,000 earmark for his hometown. What will they say now?
Ryan Blasts Dems for Earmarks:
And Ryan of Wisconsin, one of a handful of 30-something up and comers in the GOP conference, will send home $750,000 for the Janesville, Wisc., city transit system.
Pundit Nation:......or votes. Plus, Ryan knows this one earmark probably won't effect his string of consecutive bogus porkbusting and taxpayer zero awards. And since he also preaches the "government doesn't create jobs" club for growth mantra, if he has any consistency, his earmark really isn't meant for jobs. Timing is everything and election '08 is only eleven months away.
Some people may call this pork. Back home, even Ryan knows those dollars often mean jobs.
But Ryan never was the pork crusader he pretended to be during the past eight years of the GOP-led Congress. So, it comes as no surprise that he pledged not to bring home the bacon to his constituents and then break it with the $750,000 earmark for his hometown. But, as much as I’d like it to be, Ryan’s earmark for Janesville Transit doesn’t come close to my definition of pork. The truth is, the 1st Congressional District of Wisconsin has been short-changed for too long.
Take for instance the Janesville Gazette defending Rep. Brett Davis (R) for earmarking $4 million of state money not for additional law enforcement, a fire station or a public bus garage, but for a ….. soybean…… crusher……..STUDY. That $4 million amounts to taxes collected on 3.2 million packs of cigarettes smoked by Wisconsin residents and was pulled from a state budget of $57 billion. When compared to the $516 billion Omnibus Appropriations bill - Ryan would have had to pickle the Fed for almost $38 million to put the earmark in “Davis” country. Again, I’m in no way defending Paul Ryan or the amount of money – only the substance of the transit earmark.
Everybody has a different "sniff test" for pork, but when local Republicans write earmarks for the locals, their local supporters never call it pork. Because according to the local republican newspaper, Local matters.
1 comment:
You're wrong about Ryan. He's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't with people like you.
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