Budget Boondoggle Award to Ag Dept.
JANESVILLE
In the spirit of Wisconsin’s late spending hawk, Sen. William Proxmire, Rep. Paul Ryan has award his latest Budget Boondoggle Award to federal farm policy.
Ryan, a Republican from Janesville, created Budget Boondoggle as an homage to Proxmire’s Golden Fleece Award. Ryan said in a press release that his award also highlights the “most egregious, wasteful and unnecessary spending American taxpayers were forced to fund.”
The federal Department of Agriculture earned the dubious distinction because it is doling out farm subsidies to hundreds of wealthy New York City residents, Ryan said.
In 2005—the most recent year for which complete data are available—more than 300 well-heeled “farmers on the distinctly rural island of Manhattan” received subsidies from the Department of Agriculture, the congressman sarcastically noted.
Among the recipients were: at least two billionaires, a former chief executive officer of Seagrams and numerous Wall Street power brokers. Additionally, a member of the prestigious Rockefeller family has received $228,000 in subsidies in the past five years, Ryan said, adding:
“Our nation’s farm policies should be aimed to provide a safety net for family farmers in times of need, yet they continue to be a source of poorly targeted wasteful spending. … Meaningful reform to our nation’s farm policies is long overdue.
“It is my hope that by highlighting these abusive spending practices, we can greatly reduce the loss of taxpayer dollars to federal government waste,” Ryan said.
Apr 7, 2008 at 7 a.m.
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Do you have any credible evidence that Rep. Ryan is profiting from corrupt Bush policies or are you just spewing typical liberal hatred for Republicans? Government fraud, waste, abuse, and corruption is non-partisan. If you can't acknowledge that, you won't ever be taken seriously by thinking people.
Apr 7, 2008 at 1:28 a.m.
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While one might argue that the thousands of billions the Bushes have spent on military destruction is the actual “most egregious, wasteful and unnecessary spending American taxpayers were forced to fund”, who cares? It all goes to the same thieving Bush-baby big-cats; while our public institutions and protections go down the proverbial toilet. Has Mr Ryan ever stood up to the murderous Bush military greed? Or the massive giveaways in tax breaks to the rich, the fat calf oil companies, th offshore contractors? Speaking of contractors, how much has the Ryan family profited from all the Bush-Republican tax giveaways? How many millions, good Rock County citizens? Is there any way to know? It is an utter disgrace and a cynical miscarriage of journalistic probity to put Ryan in the same category as Proxmire. But then you (or better, the very wealthy) get what YOU pay for.
Apr 6, 2008 at 6:22 p.m.
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Seems like I've been hearing this same story for 20 years.
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