Shame on Congress!

The recent passing of the Energy Bill has made the priorities of our Congress quite clear to me. Over 4400 items added for individual projects spending over $16 Billion dollars in taxpayer money. What do they care? It's not their money, it's ours. And to add insult to injury there is NOTHING in the bill to help alleviate the current prices of gas we are paying now. Fuel is taxed by both the state and federal governments. For every dollar spent on gas, 31 cents is tax. Imagine if the government decided to help struggling families by saying they would reduce the amount of taxes charged on gasoline. That would have been something tangible. It may have not been a long term solution but it could have helped. Not too mention that the less money flowing into D.C. means more controlled spending (at least I would hope). Also not in the bill is anything to make sure we reduce our dependence on foreign oil. I believe the raising the minimum MPG for vehicles would be a good start. I wrote in an earlier blog my thoughts on foreign oil and with the price of oil at $65.00 a barrel it is even more poignant. our energy policies are so inefficient it's laughable. If congress really made the effort to streamline our energy needs we could reduce the cost of gas, increase our efficiency in our vehicles, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and improve our air quality by reducing emissions all by making some common sense adjustments. It seems that congress no longer listens to common sense, they listen to money and that is trouble for all of us.
If there was a way to give the President a "Line item Veto" it may be worth it. Or at the very least create an overseer committee that are not politicians but rather economists and accountants to filter through the garbage added. Better yet, take the GDP of each state, put aside a set amount of funds out of a bill to be divided up according to each states population and GDP and then make that the amount each Congressman is limited to sending back home to use how ever they deem necessary. This would create 2 things, an equal share of funds per state according to each states need and fiscal responsibility by the legislators of that state to spend the funds on real projects. For example, if a state like Arizona is getting 100 million, I bet the citizens would make sure it was used to pay for highway infrastructure, education, tax relief, or some other improvement for the citizens instead of a bridge that is not needed or a warehouse to be renovated, or even highway beautification projects. Make those who want to spend the funds accountable because lets facce it, Congress is not accountable to anyone, and that can be dangerous.
All I can say is shame on Congress and shame on President Bush for not vetoing this pork laden, inefficient, embarrassing piece of legislation. The energy bill should be named "Congresses personal spending account bill".

And that's what I think about that!