TooLong4Change

Congress has passed a rescission bill for the first time in a few decades, something that could certainly benefit the American taxpayer if such was formulated correctly. For starters, on the scale of the federal government's budget and debts $9-billion is not worth the time nor political capital needed to achieve such a bill's passage. A fiscally responsible approach to the budget would involve a larger overall cut to government spending, alongside either keeping tax rates steady or increasing tax rates and closing loopholes (preferably for those most capable of paying a larger portion). This $9-billion in cuts targets the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), as well as foreign aid. The vast majority of the 9-billion figure does come from foreign aid programs rather than from the CPB, which while is a tough decision to be made is not the worst source for spending cuts. While the United States is capable of assisting international partners and the impoverished worldwide, I...

The state government of West Virginia has established a 'flood resiliency fund' which sounds great and proactive. However, for the past few years  our government has failed to place a single dollar into the fund, this despite the fact that individual members have proposed measures to put funds into the account including a recent attempt to transfer $50-million from our 'rainy day fund' that currently sits at $1.35- B illion. These proposals have consistently been rejected by many of the same people who decided to create the empty fund. As we have seen from our flash floods in the past decade (including in just the past few days/weeks), and recently in Texas' "flash flood alley" it is important that governments at the local, state, and federal levels do all that they can when it comes to extreme weather events. They must in order to prevent death, injury, and millions in property damages. Scientists, including meteorologists, predict increased and more seve...