Tag: Government spending

  • Wichita Tea Party, from AFP

    Here’s a message from Americans For Prosperity’s Kansas state director Derrick Sontag about the Wichita Tea Party this Friday.

    It started with people like you, logging on and signing our petition at NoStimulus.com, and now we have a full-blown grassroots movement on our hands.

    One such activist, Nancy Armstrong, supported Hillary Clinton in the 2008 primary and even went on the road, campaigning for the former New York Senator. But while on the campaign trail, Nancy learned more than she anticipated about the Obama campaign. Now she’s joining the fight against the massive deficit spending bill by organizing the Wichita Tea Party, part of the nationwide grassroots movement that’s spreading like wildfire from coast to coast.

    Join Nancy at a rally this Friday outside Senator Sam Brownback’s Wichita office:

    Wichita Tea Party
    11:30 a.m., Friday, Feb. 27
    Senator Sam Brownback’s Office ( Farm Credit Bank Building, 245 N. Waco, Wichita)

    Let’s help support this cause tomorrow — bring your homemade signs and show your appreciation to Sen. Brownback for opposing this federal bailout bill, and your frustration for this bloated spending bill.

    This stimulus package is not only detrimental to our national economy, but it has immediate implications right here in Kansas. Our state faces a $1 billion budget shortfall, and we need budget reform — now. This federal bailout bill for the states will be too much of a temptation for our legislators, who may see this as a way to avoid making those tough budget decisions that come with real and meaningful budget reform.

  • Area Residents Plan Wichita Tea Party

    Grassroots movement sweeps into Wichita with anti-stimulus rally

    WICHITA — Grassroots activists in Wichita will rally outside Sen. Sam Brownback’s office on Friday, to show their appreciation to the senator for opposing the federal stimulus bill, and to demonstrate their frustration with big government spending.

    Nancy Armstrong, Garden Plain, organized the rally at 11:30 a.m. Friday, Feb. 27 outside Sen. Sam Brownback’s office (245 N. Waco, Wichita).

    Sen. Brownback voted against the federal bailout bill. Armstrong said Friday’s rally is intended to thank the Senator for standing in opposition to this bill, but also to let everyday Kansans vent their frustration with the current spending in Congress.

    Armstrong previously worked for the 2008 presidential campaign for Hillary Clinton, but has since devoted her efforts to opposing the big-government, liberal schemes put forth by Congress and the Obama Administration.

    “The powers in Washington are out of touch with the American people,” said Armstrong. “But Americans taxpayers are not going to take all of this spending lying down.

    “We’ll keep reminding our elected officials that we’re not happy with this ‘porkulus’ bill, and we’ll certainly remember this in the 2010 elections.”

    The Wichita Tea Party will be held simultaneously with local tea parties nationwide as part of a growing nationwide movement allowing everyday citizens to voice their opposition to the federal stimulus package.

    For more information, contact Nancy Armstrong at 316-990-6009 or renaissancelady46@yahoo.com.

  • Is Boeing tanker “victory” good for America?

    A Wall Street Journal editorial from March 18, 2008 (Patriot Tanker Games) argued that calls on Capitol Hill for “patriotism” in defense procurement are misguided. Leaders of this call include Kansas’s very own Todd Tiahrt and Pat Roberts.

    These politicians say that allowing an important American defense system to be built in partnership with a European firm is dangerous for America. In testimony to the defense appropriations subcommittee Rep. Tiahrt stated “I am outraged by this decision to outsource our national security … We are stacking the deck against American manufacturers, at the expense of our national and economic security.”

    But the Journal editorial sees clearly through the haze: “What’s really going on is a familiar scrum for federal cash, with politicians from Washington and Kansas using nationalism as cover for their pork-barreling … The modern aerospace biz is an increasingly global affair, and more than half of the Northrop/EADS tanker (by value) will be made in America. Much of Boeing’s tanker would also have been built outside the U.S.”

    If the tankers are built by Boeing that means more jobs for Wichita, which Tiahrt represents. Bringing home jobs and pork, it seems, are one of a United States Congressman’s most important jobs. But as the Journal editorial points out, the Defense Department has broader responsibilities: to American taxpayers across the country, and to American soldiers. If the Pentagon believes the Northrop/EADS tanker proposal is best for American security and taxpayers, on what basis can Todd Tiahrt, Pat Roberts and the rest of the Kansas congressional delegation object?

    Every congressman and senator wants to do for their district or state what Tiahrt and Roberts are doing for Wichita and Kansas. This desire leads to never-ending battles for a share of federal spending. Spending is often allocated based on political considerations instead of reason.

    The Journal editorial is absolutely correct when it concludes that “Protectionists in Congress want to make America’s soldiers wait even longer for this new equipment, all to score political points at home. There’s a word for that, but it’s not patriotism.”

  • George W. Bush leads in discretionary spending

    In an article published by The Cato Institute (Bush Beats Johnson: Comparing the Presidents), we can read this:

    Revised data released during the summer by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) provide analysts the ability to make side-by-side comparisons of the spending habits of each president during the last 40 years. All presidents presided over net increases in spending overall, though some were bigger spenders than others. As it turns out, George W. Bush is one of the biggest spenders of them all. In fact, he is an even bigger spender than Lyndon B. Johnson in terms of discretionary spending.

    This is before the prescription drug plan spending has started, and before costs from the recent hurricanes were known.

    It makes me long for the days of the Clinton presidency, when a Congress led by the opposing party seemed to hold spending in check. But now that Republicans hold both Congress and the White House, it seems that spending is spiraling out of control.