Curtailing Wasteful Spending

Cal Thomas | Syndicated columnist | Published: Oct 09, 2005

Curtailing Wasteful Spending

October 10, 2005

If you listen to some republicans in Congress, there is no fat left to be cut in government spending.

Arizona republican Congressman Jeff Flake knows otherwise.

Flake regularly publicizes what he calls egregious earmark slipped into various spending bills.

The latest is $10 million for the Alaska fisheries marketing board.

That board gave $500,000 of that money to Alaska Airlines to paint a large king salmon on a 737 passenger plane.

Flake said, “I would have thought I’d see pigs fly before congress would pay $500,000 for a flying fish.”

Alaska Airlines is a private company.

If it needs a paint job for its planes, it should pay for it.

There is no constitutional provision, or logical reason, why the taxpayers should pay for painting fish on the side of airplanes.

None!

Only when the taxpayers speak up with sufficient volume and their votes will this wasteful spending be curtailed.

And then there’s the fraud.

Get ready for reports on misspent money for hurricane Katrina victims in Louisiana, one of the country’s most corrupt states.

It’s up to us to stop this waste.

I’m Cal Thomas in Washington.


Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C.

Curtailing Wasteful Spending