Rockefeller Wants You to Buy Gas for Poor, House Members Get Free Ride
By Duane Lester • May 9th, 2008I guess Jay thinks that you have money to burn, so he plans to use your tax dollars to give to poor people in order for them to buy gas. That’ll fix everything, won’t it?
U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller has proposed legislation that would provide low-income families with a monthly stipend of $100 to $165 to offset soaring gasoline costs.
Rockefeller’s bill would mirror the eligibility requirements for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which helped 79,493 West Virginia households last year with home heating costs.
According to the West Virginia Democrat’s plan, recipients would have to show that they drive 30 miles a day, or 150 miles a week, for work, education or health care. Recipients also would have to fall between 110 percent to 150 percent of the federal poverty level. In West Virginia, that means a family of four could receive the gasoline stipend only if the household income was less than $26,845. For an individual, the cutoff point would be $13,273.
That’s what poor people need: a handout? How about you open the 85% of America’s coastline to oil drilling for American companies? How about you let ANWR be available to drilling? If you and your friends had done that back in the 90s, when the Republicans wanted to, we would have oil from ANWR today. How about you stop standing in the way of progress in the name of environmentalism and the greatest hoax ever played, i.e. global warming, and let American oil companies drill for oil in America.
Poor folks don’t need a handout, they need cheaper commodities. Your policies on oil are standing in the way of that.
Now here is a quote that shows the true Democrat spirit:
“Congress must take action now to provide immediate relief. This is about people and families who are struggling, and many of them have no choice but to drive far away because that’s where the jobs are,” Rockefeller said.
So, rather than create legislation that might foster growth in the job market in West Virginia, you instead give away my tax dollars for someone’s gas. How about signing on to the Fair Tax bill? That would bring jobs to West Virginia? There are a lot of different solutions to this issue, but free money isn’t the answer. It rarely is.
Unfortunately, Grover Cleveland foresaw what many Democrats are doing today when he said:
“Once the coffers of the federal government are opened to the public, there will be no shutting them again.”
Whatever problem arises, throw money at it until it goes away. If it doesn’t go away, you haven’t throw enough money. That about sums up Congressional problem solving anymore.
What about setting up a charity, Sen. Rockefeller, that would dole out assistance to those who needed it? A West Virginia Energy Assistance Association, or something like it. You could do it yourself, and ask some of your rich friends to donate. Maybe get Warren Buffett to give it a billion or two, since he thinks he should be paying more in taxes.
And don’t tell me charities can’t solve problems. Behold, your family tree:
Rockefeller spent the last 40 years of his life in retirement. His fortune was mainly used to create the modern systematic approach of targeted philanthropy with foundations that had a major effect on medicine, education, and scientific research. His foundations pioneered the development of medical research, and were instrumental in the eradication of hookworm and yellow fever. He is also the founder of both University of Chicago and Rockefeller University.
You think you would have learned a little something from great-grandpa.
Or here’s an even better idea! Oh, this one is tops. Have members of the House of Representatives pay for their own cars, gas and maintenance.
Representative Anthony D. Weiner, Democrat of Brooklyn and Queens, drives a 2008 Chevrolet Impala, leased for $219 a month. Representative Michael R. McNulty, a Democrat from the Albany area, gets around in a 2007 Mercury Mariner hybrid, a sport utility vehicle, for $816 a month.
“It gets a little better than 25 miles a gallon,” Mr. McNulty said.
Charles B. Rangel, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, is not so caught up in the question of gas mileage. He leases a 2004 Cadillac DeVille for $777.54 a month. The car is 17 feet long with a 300-horsepower engine and seats five comfortably.
“It’s one of the bigger Cadillacs,” Mr. Rangel, of Harlem, said cheerfully this week. “I’ve got a desk in it. It’s like an airplane.”
Modest or more luxurious, the cars are all paid for by taxpayers. The use of a car — gas included — is one of the benefits of being a member of the House of Representatives.
Congressman Gregory W. Meeks leases an ‘07 Lexus LS 460, which gets 17 mpg. Do you think we need to pay almost $1000 a month, just on the lease payment, so this guy can drive in luxury? That is where our tax dollars are going. Maybe instead of paying for Congress critters, you could cut those taxes and give them back to the people. If the House had to pay its own way, maybe they would understand how their energy policies have impacted America. I know you are in the Senate, but you have the pull to get them in line. Talk to Howard Dean about it. He’s got that kind of power.
Instead of handing out money, perhaps you should look to rein in spending. We spend too much without adding more.
Neal Boortz made “a short list of the things that Americans now feel the federal government should help them do:
- Pay for their medical care.
- Pay to heat their homes.
- Pay their children’s day care
- Educate their children
- Buy them gasoline every month
- Find then [sic] a job
- Guard their mental health with government counselors
Now would be a good time to read, or re-read, Atlas Shrugged.
