Government Waste

Joe Biden’s $7 trillion spending proposal: What’s in it?

Joe Biden wants the federal government to spend close to $7 trillion more over the next decade on issues like health care, housing and climate change — part of a sweeping presidential platform that he says will build on President Barack Obama’s legacy and unite a fractured nation. The former vice president has said he will pay for the measures with about $4 trillion in tax increases on corporations, investments and wealthy Americans. That includes an overhaul of President Trump’s massive $1.5 trillion Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which slashed the corporate tax rate to 21% from 35% and temporarily reduced individual income taxes. “I’m going to get rid of the bulk of Trump’s $2 trillion tax cuts, and a lot of you may not like that, but I’m going to close loopholes like capital gains and stepped-up basis,” Biden said, according to a pool report of the virtual fundraiser. Biden’s trillion-dollar proposals signal that he’ll continue the unprecedented level of government spending that began in mid-March as American life came to a grinding halt because of the COVID-19 crisis. In the span of 10 months, the budget deficit climbed to $2.81 trillion, a record high, according to the Treasury Department. In total, the U.S. government has spent more than $5.6 trillion so far this year. The deficit for fiscal 2020 is projected to hit $3.7 trillion, a record, according to a projection from the Congressional Budget Office. The current record for a fiscal year deficit is $1.41 trillion, set in 2009. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders lauded his one-time rival’s policy measures on Monday night during his Democratic National Convention speech. “Joe will move us forward,” he said, citing Biden’s policies on paid family leave; universal child care; health care; and criminal justice reform. “The future of our democracy is at stake. The future of our economy is at stake. The future of our planet is at stake. We must come together, defeat Donald Trump and elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as our next president and vice president,” he said. “My friends, the price of failure is just too great to imagine.” Biden is expected to formally accept the Democratic presidential nomination on Thursday from Wilmington, Del., where he lives and served for years as a U.S. senator, instead of Milwaukee, the original convention site, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Click here to take a closer look at Biden’s multi-pronged proposals – and where the money would go:

And please do..and be absolutely terrified at the enormity of this boondoggle of government waste and socialism that we and our kids will be stuck with the bill for.  That’s right.  WE will pay for this ridiculous waste if Joe Biden wins in November.  Hopefully this will help sway those on the fence to vote for Trump!

California Using $100 Million of $550 Million Federal Coronavirus Funds to Put Homeless in Hotels

The California Department of Housing and Community Development is using $100 million of the $550 million it got from the federal Coronavirus Relief Fund to put homeless people in hotel rooms or other facilities in San Francisco as a way to allegedly curb the spread of the disease. The state’s Homekey program announced the millions of taxpayer dollars available as grants to pay for the housing and that the deadline to apply is December 30. The agency’s website states: Administered by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), $600 million in grant funding will be made available to local public entities, including cities, counties, or other local public entities, including housing authorities or federally recognized tribal governments within California to purchase and rehabilitate housing, including hotels, motels, vacant apartment buildings, and other buildings and convert them into interim or permanent, long-term housing. The additional $50 million is from State General Funds and must be used by June 30, 2022, according to the website. The San Francisco Chronicle reported on the bay area participation in the government handout: As the coronavirus crisis stretches on and many hotels remain shuttered, some antsy owners are becoming more open to the idea of selling rather than hanging on to see how long they can survive the crippled economy. In hyper-expensive San Francisco, where plummeting tourism has led to 40% of the hotels temporarily closing, some owners might feel more confident than those in other regions in recovering financially once the pandemic eases. But it doesn’t mean they’re not thinking about selling, officials said. San Francisco homeless policy leaders have said since early summer they are hoping to buy two or more hotels for conversion, and some leading players in the city’s Homekey process say several properties are in play. The challenge, they say, is finding buildings that don’t need prohibitively expensive updating — in-unit bathrooms, disabled access and the like — whose owners are willing to sell at a fair price. All of that is no small ask, considering that while rents have dipped significantly during the pandemic, real estate prices have not. Then there’s the follow-up cost. Overseeing a supportive housing operation costs about $30,000 a year — per person — so a modest, 50-unit complex alone would require $1.5 million a year. The Chronicle reported that the state has received about 100 initial applications so far, according to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) office. San Francisco Supervisor Hillary Ronen suggested a more militant approach if properties do not become available. “If we can’t find willing sellers, we should consider addressing this major problem by eminent domain,” Ronen said. “Homekey is a solution, but we need much more like it. We have to do everything we can.”

Wow..  Glad I don’t live there!  You really can’t make this stuff up, folks.  What a bunch of big-government nazis!   So…to be clear.. $100 MILLION of OUR hard-earned tax dollars, are being wasted by the people’s republic of California to put homeless people in hotels..where there are already documented cases of mass abuse of drugs and alcohol (gee, what a surprise).  Who would want to stay at those hotels?  I’m sure the owners of those hotels are thinking that same question..  And, the funds were ostensibly doled out to combat the Wuhan virus plague.  Yeah..  Oh well..  This is California.  The Trump Administration (and the American people) shouldn’t be bailing out California which is run by liberal Dems in Sacramento, who continuously make spectacularly poor choices and waste tax dollars on stupid ideas like this.

Joe Biden Proposes Spending 3X What Hillary Clinton Proposed in 2016

Former Vice President Joe Biden is proposing that the federal government spend $7 trillion in new outlays — three times what former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton proposed in new spending in her unsuccessful bid for president in 2016. The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Biden has developed a massive spending plan that includes policies aimed at dealing with racial inequality and “systemic racism”: ” Mr. Biden’s plan to address what he frequently calls “systemic racism” is grafted onto nearly all aspects of the $7 trillion-plus in new federal spending that the former vice president has proposed for the next 10 years, according to campaign and think-tank estimates. That is triple the new spending that Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton proposed in her 2016 campaign for president. The Biden campaign has specified about $4 trillion in tax increases to help pay for his proposals, chiefly by raising rates on corporations, investments and high earners. President Trump has warned the big tax hikes would snuff out any signs of economic recovery from the coronavirus downturn. Other critics worry the plans will exacerbate the record government deficits resulting from Mr. Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and the massive pandemic spending.” Clinton’s plan, by contrast, proposed $2.2 trillion in spending on social programs and infrastructure, most of it paid for by raising taxes: ” Clinton’s proposals call for $2.2 trillion in new spending over a 10-year period, with plans that would allow in about a million more immigrants a year. She’s looking to boost spending on infrastructure and education, as well as providing paid family and medical leave, increasing the minimum wage, and investing in economic development and research. To pay for her proposals, she’s calling for a near-equal amount of taxation, with the burden placed primarily on the shoulders of corporations and those making more than $300,000 a year. Clinton’s plans rely primarily on Keynesian demand-side solutions, while Trumps’ are more focused on supply-side tax cuts.” The scale of Biden’s proposals underscores the radical aims of his economic agenda, which has veered sharply to the left under the Biden-Sanders “Unity” Platform.

Indeed..  Be afraid!  Then, vote for Trump!!!

Analysis: Postal Service doesn’t need a bailout; it needs new leadership and new thinking

Change is coming to the U.S. Postal Service. President Trump has appointed a new postmaster general, Louis DeJoy of North Carolina, who is co-chair of the committee planning the Republican National Convention. Mr. DeJoy is an outsider — he comes from the logistics business and real estate — and is the first postmaster general not to come up through the ranks in more than two decades. The president has a Postal Regulatory Commission board in place to carry out his proposed reforms. David Williams, an ally of the old regime and the only member of the Postal Regulatory Commission not appointed by President Trump, resigned last week over disagreements with other board members on the conditions they agreed to accept to get a $10 billion line of credit as part of the first coronavirus legislation. That leaves the board with three Republicans and only one Democrat. Mr. Trump’s frustration with the slow pace of change and resistance to new thinking in recent weeks hastened the appointment of Mr. DeJoy. The president has noted that Mark Meadows, now his chief of staff but then the top Republican on the House Oversight Committee, last year asked Megan Brennan, the current postmaster general, to show how she planned to rectify the Postal Service’s disastrous finances. She still has not produced a plan, and now she never will. The president, who has called the Postal Service “a joke” in recent weeks, has balked at requests from the Postal Service and some of its Democratic allies in Congress for a $75 billion no-strings-attached bailout. He says no money should be included in the upcoming fourth coronavirus stimulus legislation unless the agency raises prices on Amazon and other large shippers immediately. The president is on the right track. The Postal Service doesn’t need a bailout; it needs new leadership and new thinking. The president also is right about the problem: The Postal Service doesn’t know how to price its products, specifically package delivery, in a way that permits it to balance the books. First-class mail, the Postal Service’s most profitable product, has declined 44 percent since fiscal 2006. Marketing mail has declined 27 percent over roughly the same period. About 36 percent of the nation’s 34,600 postal outlets lose money. But despite decreased demand and increased expenses, the Postal Service added about 13,000 employees and increased total compensation costs by $1 billion in just the last year — and that’s with new hires earning less and non-career employees increasing. Its compensation costs are higher than any other major shipper. The products on which the Postal Service has a monopoly — first-class mail and the right to put things in mailboxes – are regulated by the Postal Regulatory Commission and generally rise only with inflation. But the so-called competitive prices — those in areas such as package delivery where private-sector firms also participate — are supposed to meet attributable costs. And that’s the problem — they don’t. Even though it is exempt from state and local taxes, income and property taxes, parking tickets, vehicle fees or other charges — and pays federal tax to itself — the Postal Service has lost money for 13 straight years for a total of $69 billion.

Thanks to Brian McNicoll for that informative piece.  Glad to see we’re getting new leadership at USPS.  It’s long overdue.  For more, click on the text above.

Maher: I Worry Overspending Could End Up ‘Hurting More’ than Coronavirus

During an interview with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) broadcast on Friday’s edition of HBO’s “Real Time,” host Bill Maher expressed concern about the amount of money the government is spending due to the coronavirus pandemic and stated that “It seems like it’s a house of cards that could, in the end, wind up hurting more people than the disease.” Maher said, “I don’t know how you can just keep indefinitely writing checks. We were 20 trillion in the hole to begin with. And all world governments, who are already in debt, are doing this. How can the whole world be writing this funny money?” After Pelosi said that greater investments in science and health will help the economy recover, Maher stated, “Well, it will recover unless people get wise to the fact that we’re just writing checks for money that doesn’t exist. … It seems like it’s a house of cards that could, in the end, wind up hurting more people than the disease.”

Normally we disagree with Bill Maher about 95% of the time.  But, we gotta give credit where credit is due..and its due here.  Kudos to him for putting that partisan, liberal agenda-driven, dithering idiot, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on the spot like that on national tv.  Nancy Pelosi doesn’t give a damn about hard working Americans suffering with this Wuhan virus.  All she cares is about seizing this crisis to advance her Democrat liberal agenda and weave into any so-called “stimulus” bills that are being advanced in the House, a bunch of unrelated, irrelevant expensive liberal bs that we’ll be stuck with the bill for…and no way to pay for it.  Then what?

Federal deficit to hit record $3.8 trillion: Watchdog

The federal government will run a deficit of at least $3.8 trillion this year, likely quadrupling in just one year, a watchdog calculated Monday, as Uncle Sam opens up the checkbook to try to ease the burden of the coronavirus pandemic. President Trump will oversee a deficit equivalent to 18.7% of gross domestic product, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget calculated. That’s double the deficit in 2009, when President Obama was leading the country through the Great Recession. Total debt, meanwhile, will soar to more than 100% of GDP for the first time since World War II. And if anything, those projections are on the conservative side and deficits “are likely to be much higher,” CRFB said, because they only account for the laws enacted so far. Congress is already talking about another couple rounds of spending. CRFB said a surge in spending is “inevitable and necessary,” but warned the country will have to brace for tough decisions later in order to bring things back in line.

Indeed..  That is why it is SO critical that the Senate and President Trump push back against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) desire to put a LOT of unnecessary, irrelevant, liberal agenda, “pork” (or “porn” as Sen. John Kennedy calls it) into any future stimulus bills.

Nancy Pelosi Pushing for Leftist Provisions in Phase Four Coronavirus Bill

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said on Wednesday that she hopes that Democrats can get more Democrat provisions in a phase four coronavirus package. Anderson Cooper asked Pelosi what she thought of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) contention that Congress should wait to see how the phase three coronavirus response package impacts the pandemic before moving to a phase four bill. In response, Pelosi admitted that Democrats were not able to obtain many Democrat provisions in the phase three coronavirus bill drafted by Senate Republicans. “We couldn’t get everything we wanted in the other bill, let’s begin to go down this path,” Pelosi said. Pelosi’s jockeying for a phase four coronavirus response bill appears to be a move to stuff more leftist special interests in the bill. Despite Pelosi’s negotiations with McConnell and the White House on the phase three coronavirus package, she moved to push her own stage three bill that would contain more Democrat provisions. Democrat Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) said in February regarding the Democrat phase three bill, “This is a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision.” The Pelosi coronavirus bill included: Increased fuel emissions standards for airlines receiving coronavirus assistance funds. Student loans payments up to $10,000 Same-day voter registration, early voting, voting by mail, and ballot harvesting Preserving collective bargaining for unions Expansion of wind and solar tax credits Requirements for federal and corporate racial diversity data A Post Office bailout Automatic extension of nonimmigrant visas Restricting colleges from providing information about citizenship status Funds for Planned Parenthood $300,000,000 for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which produces PBS to “prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus.” $278,000,000 for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) $500,000,000 for the Institute for Museum and Library Services $35,000,000 for the John F. Kennedy Center However, despite Pelosi’s move to push her own bill, she ended up supporting McConnell’s phase three bill. Due to Senate Republicans’ victory over Pelosi, the Republican Party was able to block many leftist provisions in the phase three bill including: Money for Planned Parenthood. Green New Deal Federal Mandates for Early and Mail Voting Postal Service Bailout DHS Funding Restrictions. “If Chuck Schumer had his way, he would have eliminated the direct checks,” one Senate Republican aide said…

We are disgusted by Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) persistent effort to use this national crisis to push her liberal political agenda and pass on the cost to hurting Americans.  She’s pulling this bs while people are being laid off and can’t pay their bills.  But, come hell or highwater, she’s gonna make us pay for AOC’s “Green New Deal,” millions for the Kennedy Center, millions for PBS/NPR, Planned Parenthood, and other ridiculous liberal nonsense that has NOTHING to do with helping hurting Americans around the country.  Sen. Kennedy (R-LA) calls this political “porn.”  Let’s all email our members of Congress and both U,S. Senators and let them know we don’t want them to pack this crap into the next bill.

Illegal Aliens Demand $1.2K Each in Taxpayer-Funded Checks

Illegal aliens are demanding they too receive $1,200 in federal checks from the government as part of a Chinese coronavirus crisis relief package. Open borders organizations like the George Soros-funded United We Dream, the National Immigrant Justice Center, and the National Immigration Law Center — all of which represent the roughly 11 to 22 million illegal aliens living in the United States — are pleading with the federal government to cut federal checks to illegal aliens who have Individual Tax Identification Number (ITINs). Currently, Trump’s coronavirus relief package includes $1,200 federal checks for American citizens with Social Security Numbers (SSN) or those considered “resident aliens,” like permanent lawful residents in the U.S. on green cards. Illegal aliens, therefore, are excluded from receiving the federal checks, a provision that has outraged the open borders lobby. “Everyone, regardless of immigration status, must have access to testing, medical care & financial relief. Congress must ensure that all Americans can focus on keeping their families & communities safe & healthy,” officials with the National Immigrant Justice Center posted online. Illegal alien advocates with United We Dream said the federal checks should go to all residents regardless if they are here illegally or not: Illegal alien advocates are asking the public to urge lawmakers to provide federal checks to illegal aliens in the midst of the coronavirus crisis. “All people, regardless of immigration status, must be included in the stimulus,” a petition reads. “Cash payments must go to all taxpayers, including immigrants who pay using an ITIN … coronavirus testing and care must be free and accessible to all: Amend Emergency Medicaid to cover Covid-19 costs, so patients get care regardless of immigration status.” The petition also asks lawmakers to overturn President Trump’s “Public Charge” rule that ensures American taxpayers are not paying to permanently resettle legal immigrants who have been found to rely on public welfare and federal aid. Today, there are anywhere from 7.8 to 8.1 million illegal aliens working illegally in the U.S. economy — primarily holding jobs that would have otherwise gone to working-class Americans.

And, that should infuriate every single American…especially those looking for a job.  This story proves what we’ve been saying here at The Daily Buzz for over six years; that the reason the overwhelming majority of illegals come here, is for the freebies that we, the actual citizens of America, pay for.  We have OVER 22 MILLION illegal aliens in this country.  That is a staggering statistic.  And now these illegals and their shameless advocacy groups are “demanding” that they receive money from this Wuhan virus bill that President Trump just signed into law the other day.  Are you kidding me?!?  The brazen nerve!  Here’s what we should do…  Just set up a sting operation.  Advertise a place and time where these illegals can come pick up their check, and then have ICE be there to confirm their identity, arrest them, and then deport them back to wherever the hell they came from.  We need to be deporting these illegals by the hundreds of thousands (and yes, you read that correctly), paying particular attention to known gang members (i.e. MS-13, etc.), convicted criminal aliens, and those already determined to be deported by an immigration judge…regardless of age or gender.  Period.

How much is Trump’s impeachment costing taxpayers?

The third impeachment trial in U.S. history is rapidly heading toward a close, with President Trump’s acquittal all but guaranteed after the Senate on Friday rejected a call to allow new witness testimony. According to an estimate from the Heritage Foundation in December, the Democrat-led House of Representatives inquiry, and eventual impeachment of Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress on Dec. 18, cost taxpayers an estimated $3.06 million. That price tag includes the money spent on the salaries of 106 congressional staffers from the House Intelligence Committee, the Judiciary Committee and the Oversight and Reform Committee, who worked on impeachment from Sept. 24 to Dec. 13, according to the Daily Signal. It also included the estimated hourly fees of six attorneys who appeared during hearings. At the heart of the impeachment case is the allegation that Trump intentionally withheld military aid from Ukraine in order to pressure the country to investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, who served on the board of Burisma, Ukraine’s largest natural gas company, while his father was vice president. Trump has maintained that he acted appropriately. While the figure doesn’t include the Senate trial, the tab through December is sharply lower than the one for the impeachment investigation and trial of President Bill Clinton two decades ago. According to CNN, the independent probe into Clinton cost taxpayers $80 million in 1994. The Republican National Committee is picking up the tab for at least two of Trump’s private attorneys, according to The Washington Post, a far different strategy than that employed by Clinton, who set up a legal fund that failed to cover millions of dollars in bills before he left office. The law firms of Trump’s lead lawyer, Jay Sekulow, and attorney Jane Raskin have received $225,000 from the RNC through November, the Post reported. The party will pay the duo for their work in January and this month as the trial continues, according to the Post, which cited people familiar with the arrangement. Last year, the RNC and Trump’s fundraising committees brought in a combined $463.6 million, ending the year with $194.8 million in the bank, highlighting the party’s success in capitalizing on the threat of impeachment. “[Donors] are tuning out the Democrats’ politically motivated impeachment charade and turning out for the president and his record of results,” RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel said..

Again, keep in mind that the $3.06 Million of our hard-earned tax dollars on this impeachment hoax was through Dec. 18th of last year.  It’s still going on, and we’re in February.  So, that figure is just the beginning.  And, that’s just a balance sheet way of looking at it.  It says nothing about the hours and hours the Democrats in the House spent on it, instead of doin the work of the American people.  This has been a colossal waste of time, money, and OUR money…especially when we ALL knew exactly how this would end.   Keep this in mind when you go to the polls in November.  Remember how te Dems wasted your money on this bs.

Taxpayer group cites AOC as ‘Porker of the Year’ for 2019

A watchdog group named Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Tuesday as its annual “Porker of the Year” for 2019, citing her sponsorship of the costly “Green New Deal” proposal. Citizens Against Government Waste President Tom Schatz said the New York Democrat received 54% in the group’s online poll, easily beating out Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who garnered 25%, and four other candidates. “The results are not surprising, as Rep. Ocasio-Cortez’s $93 trillion proposal exemplifies the Congress’s failure to protect the taxpayers’ hard-earned money,” Mr. Schatz said. “For pushing a radical plan that would destroy the American economy, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez deserves the distinction of 2019 Porker of the Year.” The Green New Deal is a liberal blueprint for everything from cutting carbon emissions to guaranteeing every American a job. A left-leaning think tank estimated in 2018 that the jobs guarantee a portion of the plan alone would cost the government about $543 billion per year. President Trump and the GOP have seized on the Green New Deal as proof that Democrats have turned too far left heading into the 2020 election and are trying to enforce a costly, socialist utopia on the rest of the country that would ruin the U.S. economy. Asked last year how she would pay for the plan, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez told NPR: “I think the first thing that we need to do is kind of break the mistaken idea that taxes pay for a hundred percent of government expenditure. It’s just not how government expenditure works.” “We can recoup costs, but oftentimes you look at, for example, the GOP tax cut, which I think was an irresponsible use of government expenditure,” she said at the time. “But government projects are often financed by a combination of taxes, deficit spending and other kinds of investments.” CNN pointed out that her agenda of Medicare for all, guaranteeing jobs, eliminating student loan debt, free college tuition, paid family leave and Social Security expansion would cost $40 trillion over 10 years. She has proposed tax increases on wealthier Americans to pay for $2 trillion of that. The freshman Democrat also had won the CAGW’s “Porker of the Month” award in March when she first introduced the Green New Deal. “Her bill would be a disaster for American taxpayers for a litany of reasons that are difficult to count,” CAGW said in a statement. “Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and her allies have yet to submit a plan that comes even remotely close to paying for this tsunami of new spending.” The taxpayer group noted that a fact sheet introduced with the Green New Deal cited a goal of replacing every combustion-engine vehicle and create a rail system that would make air travel unnecessary. Her office later distanced itself from those goals. Ms. Warren, one of the top contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination, also won a monthly “porker” award last year for her proposal for “free” college and a taxpayer-funded bailout of all student loan debt.

AOC is such a stunningly stupid person…  She said, “Government projects are often financed by a combination of taxes, deficit spending and other kinds of investments.”  Huh??  Wtf is that psychobabble?  Government is paid for by we-the-taxpayers.  Period.  Kudos to CAGW for calling her out, and naming her their “Porker of the Year.”  She has more than earned that unflattering distinction.