BigGovernment.com reports today that the Missouri Department of Transportation was purchasing two Greyhound buses with "stimulus" dollars.

Bob McCarty, who wrote the story says that a spokesperson for the Department himself surprised by the expenditure, but promised to follow up with an explanation which then followed. Says McCarty:

During our second conversation, the MoDOT spokesperson confirmed that, in order to meet the federal mandate that 15 percent of ARRA funds provided to states be spent on intercity bus transportation, the State of Missouri will use $945,210 of federal taxpayer monies to reimburse Greyhound Bus Lines for the addition of two new buses to the company’s fleet. In other words, Greyhound is getting a federal subsidy and the Show-Me State is acting as a laundromat of sorts. But I digress.

I always thought we were being taken for a ride with this "stimulus" package, but I didn't know we'd be on a Greyhound bus.

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Word has it that the House GOP Conference has just adopted a unilateral moratorium on earmarks, which is great news for taxpayers. CFA  and ATR have been very supportive of the effort to enact such a moratorium and sent this letter yesterday.

Center-Right coalition leaders from around the country also supported the effort in a letter sent early this morning.

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Tomorrow, the House GOP Conference will meet to discuss a self-imposed unilateral earmark moratorium for FY2011. We're supporting the effort, because, as we've stated in our letter:

Taxpayers have become increasingly frustrated with the Congressional practice of earmarking. The process lacks transparency and accountability and the results are often frivolous and wasteful.    

 

While overall spending levels and a lack of general spending discipline continue to be the main problem, earmarks have become emblematic of what taxpayers perceive as the problem in Washington, DC.  

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Speaker Pelosi delivered this gem of a quote yesterday, showing us that proponents of government health are getting desperate as their window of opportunity is closing.  They have realized that the more people learn about the House and Senate bill as well as the President's plan, the less they want it. So Nancy Pelosi's preferred strategy is now this, as she told the audience at the 2010 Legislative Conference for the National Association of Counties:

But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it (...)

Translation:

Close your eyes, open your mouths and say 'aah' and then swallow after we shove it down your throats!?

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Today, the Senate voted unanimously to pass Sen. Coburn’s PAYGO transparency amendment (#3358) to the Baucus substitute for the tax extenders bill, H.R. 4213.

The amendment requires the Senate to disclose detailed expenditures information on the front page of its website and to update this information on a weekly basis. This includes CBO estimates of net spending authorized by Senate legislation, as well as spending that has not been paid for or is exempted from PAYGO requirements.

While this is a victory for taxpayers, we'll now have to make sure the provision is retained after the conference process, so that we'll actually see the expenditure tally on the Senate's website.

Click here for CFA’s vote alert on the Coburn transparency amendment.

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