Jim Brown - OneNewsNow - 8/28/2009 6:00:00
A tax policy expert says President Obama has reneged on his promise to keep his economic "stimulus" plan transparent and free of earmarks.
The Associated Press reports that Senators Max Baucus (D-Montana) and John Tester (D-Montana) persuaded the Obama administration to award $15 million in federal stimulus money to a Montana checkpoint along the Canadian border that serves only three people a day. A similar checkpoint in North Dakota, which serves about 73 people a day, is also getting $15 million for renovations.
Meanwhile, a border checkpoint in Laredo, Texas -- which serves more than 55,000 travelers and 4,200 trucks a day in an area that is a hotbed of illegal immigration and drug trafficking -- was passed over for stimulus money.
Curtis Dubay with The Heritage Foundation says it is not surprising that a $787 billion bill would include political favors.
"This bill wasn't about stimulating the economy in any way," the senior tax policy analyst contends. "It was about funding spending priorities that had not been funded in previous years -- and they hadn't been funded because they weren't deemed as pressing. Because there was so much money thrown in the stimulus, they can now be funded."
Dubay predicts cases of abuse and influence peddling in stimulus programs will continue to crop up for the next three to five years because many projects have yet to go into effect.
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