A headline from yesterday’s online version of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
McCaskill joins McCain in anti-earmark effort, announces local grants
Ugh. One of my chief policy pet peeves is the idea that congressfolk earmarking money to special interests is bad, but having bureaucrats dole out the same sort of cheese through grants and loans is A‑OK.
Says Sen. McCaskill (D‑MO):
We are looking at deficits in the trillions, and I think Americans are fed up with the way Washington has been spending their money.… Changing the earmark culture is not the whole solution to bringing fiscal responsibility back, but it’s a start.
So far so good, but then:
Also Wednesday, McCaskill announced two grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA):
- A total of $752,560 to the city of Silex in Lincoln County. “The money is being provided through the United State’s Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development funding initiative, which works to improve the economy and quality of life in rural communities by supporting and providing government loans and grants.… According to the USDA, the city will receive a grant of $387,560 and a low-interest government loan of $365,000. The funds will be used to upgrade the centralized sewer system, providing improved water treatment facilities and adding thousands of feet in main line.”
- $50,000 to the city of Berger in Franklin County. The money comes from the same USDA program targeting rural communities. “According to the USDA, the funding will be used to provide a centralized sewer system that will improve the health and sanitary conditions of the area by providing water to residents who currently rely on failing septic tanks,” the senator’s office said.”
So, if another member of the Missouri congressional delegation had instead instructed the USDA to redistribute taxpayer money to these two Missouri communities via language in a piece of legislation it would have been bad? According to Sen. McCaskill, the answer is apparently “yes.”
Look, I’m happy Sen. McCaskill is on board the anti-earmark train. Kudos to her. But whichever means Congress chooses, the end is the same: taxpayers on the hook for special interest spending.
