House Expense $ Buys Luxury Cars, High-End Electronics And Dumbest Senate Pork Ever!

Some good news, bad news and more bad news from Congress Daily. (subscription required) But it often has some interesting stuff before I see it anywhere else.

To her credit, apparently, Pelosi has placed House disbursement records on line. They are available  here. Hmm.

The reports posted today reflect activity from July through September. Pelosi made the decision to post the reports after published stories this summer raised questions about how some House members are using their office allowances, which cannot be used for personal benefit. While most spending by lawmakers goes to staff salaries and office expenses, the reports documented how some has gone toward items such as luxury cars and high-end electronics.

And here's a priceless bit of unbelievably dumb pork. It's unclear who is looking to take advantage of it. But remember all those summertime town hall meetings because people are fed up with government spending? Well, the arrogant Senate has decided they need a half million of our tax dollars to tell you about the next ones they want to have. That despite having franking privileges already! Enough never seems to be enough for the folks in DC! And they wonder why we want to throw them out.

With raucous town hall meetings this summer that roiled Democratic healthcare plans still fresh, another round of meetings is expected soon -- with the help of a little-noticed special $500,000 appropriation.

Buried inside the FY10 Legislative Branch Appropriations bill that President Obama signed Oct. 1 is $500,000 in funds designated for senators so they can promote through the mail their upcoming town hall sessions. The bill states that up to that amount will be made available for the postcard mailings to provide public notice of the meetings.

It also states that any amount allocated to the senators cannot exceed 50 percent of the cost, with the senator responsible for paying the remainder.

The special fund has attracted criticism from nonpartisan public watchdog groups. Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste, opposed the use of taxpayer dollars for the new round of town hall meetings.

"As the national debt surpassed $12 trillion in November and the deficit broke the monthly record in October, senators have seen fit to give themselves $500,000 to publicize their town hall meetings," Schatz said. "This expenditure is especially wasteful after many members of Congress fled from or canceled such events in August after loud protests erupted over health care."

Schatz said that individuals who wish to attend town hall meetings clearly know how to find their senators by using low-cost or no-cost methods such as local media outlets, the Internet -- including social networking -- and calling senators' district offices.

"Finding out about this $500,000 expense will only make taxpayers more determined to express their views about all of the overspending in Washington," Schatz said.

Craig Holman, public affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen, said: "That is a huge amount of money set aside for a special frank. This is not regular and normal business. Town hall meetings can be very political and partisan."

A House Appropriations Committee aide said he was baffled by the earmark.

"I don't understand it since they could mail out notices through their regular mailing privileges," he said. The aide said he didn't know who wrote the provision and no one from the Senate Appropriations Committee was available for comment.

House appropriators routinely accept items dealing only with the Senate as a matter of comity. It was unclear how many senators will take advantage of the fund, which is not available for House members.

Comments

[mojo]

A little sugar for the boys in the back room.

[x11b1p]

congress spends much money on H20, whats wrong with the water fountain or water from a sink, some ice and a pitcher, lets not forget about the dixie cups. what did they do b/f bottled water was the thing to drink - i wonder do they really think its from a glacier or the highest peaks in france?

[Elmo]

We won ... you lose. Heh ...