government spending

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Horseless Detroit Department Employs ... Horseshoer

Job description last revised in 1967

(Newser) - Detroit's Water and Sewerage Department doesn't have any horses—but if it ever gets any, it's totally prepared. The city employs a "horseshoer," whose job it is "to shoe horses and to do general blacksmith work ... and to perform related work as required,"...

Don't Fear the Looming Pentagon Cuts

...because it's the domestic cuts that will really hit home

(Newser) - Much ink has been given to the Pentagon cuts set to hit on Jan. 2, thanks to the failure of last year's deficit supercommittee. But with less than five months til D-Day, the AP takes the opportunity to dish out a cheery recommendation: Don't fear those $55 billion...

No Shutdown This Year: Reid, Boehner Strike Deal

Move will keep government running into early 2013

(Newser) - Neither party apparently wanted to throw a government showdown into the November election mix. Harry Reid and John Boehner said today they'd struck a deal to keep the government running into March of next year, reports Politico . President Obama has given his blessing as well to the deal, which...

'Leviathan State' Won't Solve Your Problems

Charles Krauthammer slams Obama's love for infrastructure

(Newser) - Can we thank government for our best opportunities? President Obama seems to think so, but Charles Krauthammer isn't buying it: Yes, government builds roads and pays teachers, but "to say that all individuals are embedded in and the product of society is banal," he writes in the...

GSA Bash Organizer Steps Down

Jeff Neely had 'swagger' like Jack Abramoff: congressman

(Newser) - The General Services Administration official who organized that extravagant and much-derided Las Vegas conference has left his post. Jeff Neely was acting regional commissioner when the $800,000 conference occurred; after an investigation, he was placed on administrative leave in April. The GSA is continuing to pursue "all available...

GSA Nixes New Vegas Conference

Sin City conference canceled in wake of uproar

(Newser) - In the wake of all the uproar over its $822,000 conference in Las Vegas in 2010, the General Services Administration has decided it may not be a good idea to return to Sin City this year, the Washington Post reports. Thus, the GSA axed "GreenUP 2012 Training Conference...

Federal Heads Roll Over $822K Vegas Party

Waste included $6K in coins honoring GSA's work on stimulus

(Newser) - What happens in Vegas ... has come back to bite a federal agency that decided to throw itself an $822,000 conference that was every bit as posh as it was ill-advised. Martha Johnson, the administrator of the General Services Administration, has quit over the brouhaha, acknowledging in her resignation letter...

States, Cities Gutted Spending in 2011

Medicaid, state jobs, infrastructure hit

(Newser) - The final three months of 2011 saw states, cities, and school districts making their biggest spending cuts in a decade, USA Today reports. Spending dropped 1.6% from the same period the year before, plummeting by $26 billion. The result: States are seeing their smallest shortfalls in years, and in...

Congress Dodging Earmark Ban: Watchdogs

Lawmakers attach special funds to budgets to direct cash homeward

(Newser) - Congress' ban on earmarks doesn't seem to be stopping members from channeling money to home-state projects. These days, instead of tacking such projects on to bills, legislators are creating "slush funds" that ultimately serve the same purpose, watchdog groups tell the New York Times . Included in the Army...

I Want 20% Less Spending on Swag: Obama

 I Want 20% Less 
 Spending on 
 Swag: Obama 
'we can't wait' campaign
Nov 9, 2011 6:59 AM CST

I Want 20% Less Spending on Swag: Obama

Tasks federal agencies with trimming the fat in four other areas, too

(Newser) - If you happen to be sipping from a promotional coffee cup bestowed on you by a federal agency, hang on to it: You might not be getting a new one anytime soon. As part of his "We Can't Wait" campaign, President Obama will today announce his latest effort:...

Oops: $16 Muffin Never Happened

Government auditor apologizes for headline-grabbing error

(Newser) - Remember how impossible it seemed that the government would pay $16 for a single muffin ? Well, apparently it was so impossible that it didn't really happen. The inspector general of the Justice Department apologized yesterday for the original report in September, saying it was all a misunderstanding, reports...

Perry's Job Program Claims Wildly Inflated

Wall Street Journal looks at the numbers and isn't impressed

(Newser) - Rick Perry often boasts of his $440 million Texas Enterprise Fund, which he says has created more than 59,000 jobs. But the program’s estimates often appear wildly exaggerated, the Wall Street Journal reports. A $50 million grant to Texas A&M for a new Genomic Institute, for example,...

GOP&#39;s Government Haters Happy to Work for It
GOP's Government Haters
Happy to Work for It
OPINION
Sep 23, 2011 9:44 AM CDT

GOP's Government Haters Happy to Work for It

Candidates, like voters, often two-faced on government: Gregg Easterbrook

(Newser) - For a group of people who loudly denounce government, most of the GOP presidential contenders sure have spent a lot of time working for it—as politicians, as an attorney for the IRS, as an Air Force serviceman, and in other ways, observes Gregg Easterbrook at Reuters . People who have...

$16 Government Muffins? It&#39;s a &#39;Myth&#39;
$16 Government Muffins?
 It's a 'Myth'
OPINION
Sep 22, 2011 4:39 PM CDT

$16 Government Muffins? It's a 'Myth'

Audtiors clearly aren't familiar with conference invoices: Kevin Drum

(Newser) - A recent government audit wagged its finger at the Justice Department for spending $16 on muffins. It's a great story, a classic case of government abuse—and almost certainly not true, writes Kevin Drum at Mother Jones . Yes, the invoices show the department spent $4,200 on 250 muffins...

Report Finds $16 Muffins at Justice Dept. Conferences
Report Finds $16 Muffins at Justice Dept. Conferences
what budget cuts?
Sep 20, 2011 1:15 PM CDT

Report Finds $16 Muffins at Justice Dept. Conferences

Budget cuts? What budget cuts?

(Newser) - One possible reason we’re broke: US Justice Department agencies like to spend extravagantly when it comes to conferences, to the tune of providing $16 muffins at one. (No, that is not a typo.) An audit released today found that the “costly meals, refreshments, and themed breaks” provided...

Paul Krugman: Budget Cuts are 'Bleeding' the Economy
 Budget Cuts 
 Are 'Bleeding' 
 the Economy 
paul krugman
Sep 19, 2011 12:12 PM CDT

Budget Cuts Are 'Bleeding' the Economy

We need to spend to staunch the flow: Paul Krugman

(Newser) - Trying to fix the economy with budget cuts reminds Paul Krugman of an outdated medical practice: bleeding patients. This “economic bloodletting” is supposed to boost confidence, but it's a cure that just makes things worse. "Somehow, businesses and consumers seem much more concerned about the lack of...

Shrimp on Treadmill Study Not So Wacky: Irritated Researcher

Lawmakers mocking research are playing politics, scientists say

(Newser) - "Shrimp on a treadmill" has become a byphrase for wasteful government spending. But the scientist behind the study says lawmakers are distorting the facts. The treadmill test—singled out by Sen. Tom Coburn in an attack on National Science Foundation funding —was designed to study shrimp's reaction...

Secret Service Pays Joe Biden Rent to Use His Cottage
 Secret Service Pays Biden Rent 
Aug 1, 2011 7:31 AM CDT

Secret Service Pays Biden Rent

Total it has forked over since April: $13K

(Newser) - Joe Biden is the vice president ... and due to a strange arrangement with the Secret Service, he's also a federal contractor. The Secret Service pays Biden to stay in a rental cottage adjacent to his Delaware home. Since April, Biden has collected $13,000 in rent, and he could...

Bachmann Slams Funds to Black Farmers

Money should go to flood victims instead, candidate says

(Newser) - Michele Bachmann says money being used to compensate black farmers who charged the federal government with grant and loan discrimination would be better spent helping US flood victims. The candidate, after touring flooded areas along the Missouri River with Republican Rep. Steve King yesterday, pointed to the multi-billion-dollar Pigford settlement...

Wrenching Decisions Loom If Debt Ceiling Isn't Raised

Who doesn't get paid: Soldiers, seniors, jobless, or bondholders?

(Newser) - If Washington doesn’t manage to raise the debt ceiling by Aug. 2, Tim Geithner’s going to have some angry people on his hands. That’s the date the Bipartisan Policy Center predicts the government will run out of money, leaving the US to pay its bills with incoming...

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