A Year of ‘Stimulus’, More Government Waste

One year ago today, President Obama signed the so-called stimulus into law. I opposed this bill because of increased spending and lack of accountability for the funds.

In the past year, we have heard how money has been wasted on pet projects and pointless initiatives. Yesterday, Vice President Biden referred to the stimulus as “one of the best run programs in terms of fraud and abuse and waste of any program the federal government has ever initiated.” Now, I’m not sure where he gets his information from, but let me take this opportunity to highlight some of the wasteful spending under the stimulus.

•ABC News reported that road signs advertising stimulus-funded road projects cost $500 apiece in Maryland and New Hampshire, $1,700 in Georgia, $2,000 in Pennsylvania and New York, and $3,000 per project in New Jersey. For the price of one $2,000 sign, 40 potholes could be repaired. New York was reported to be spending about $1 million on signs.

•$390,000 to study the relationship between malt liquor and marijuana use. The State University of New York at Buffalo received $390,000 in Stimulus funds to conduct a study on the relationship between drinking malt liquor and using marijuana. 100 people will be paid $45 a day for three weeks by taxpayers to drink malt liquor and smoke marijuana.

•Rose Hagner of Anne Arundel County, Maryland, received a $250 supplemental Social Security check funded by the stimulus bill. However, Mrs. Hagner died on Memorial Day 1967.

•$2.3 Million in stimulus funds for beauty school tuitions. Eight Tampa Bay cosmetology and massage schools are receiving $2.3 million in Stimulus funds to pay the tuitions for hairdressers, masseuses and nail technicians … Monica Ponce, the owner of Tampa’s Muse The Salon, doesn’t believe there is actually a demand for more beauty school graduates in the bay area. Chad Malm, owner of Tampa’s Salon Jack, agreed with Ponce noting there are already plenty of hairdressers in the area. According to Malm, not only is the idea of subsiding beauty school tuitions ridiculous, it’s also “wasting tax dollars.” (Will Van Zant, $2.3 Million In Federal Stimulus Money Is Going To Pay For Tampa Bay Area Beauty School Tuition, The St. Petersburg Times, 10/17/09)

These examples are just a handful of initiatives that make it clear that the stimulus is wasting American tax dollars. Of that nearly $1 trillion in spending, much remains unspent and all of this government spending has done nothing to create new, permanent jobs. It is time to take a new approach. I am looking at how we can reduce spending in programs that have unspent stimulus funds. Let’s stop wasting our hard-earned money, and get this economy moving again. For more information on where we stand after one year of the so-called “stimulus,” click here.