When I wrote about Massachusetts getting the government it deserves I included this paragraph to the voters:
Maybe it will be the shock when you discover that all these democrats that you returned to congress are now in the minority and all of those tax dollars taken from you that they returned in lump sums at .82 cents on the dollar will not be coming back since they don’t have the clout to gain them and the republican house where all spending must originate is unlikely to approve them. If you had sent even a single republican to the house at least in one district there would be clout, but nope, no can do. You will miss that .82 cents on the dollar, but don’t worry the feds will meet you halfway. They will still take that dollar it was part of.
Well lo and behold we have a new congress and guess what the Sentinel and Enterprise reports isn’t coming
A $300,000 appropriation to help complete renovations at the ARC Community Services building on Main Street has hit a stumbling block and will likely not be approved by Congress, said ARC President Mary Heafy.
Despite news that the U.S. House of Representatives had approved the $300,000 appropriation, the office of U.S. Rep. John Olver, D-Amherst, informed Heafy this week that there’s a 99 percent chance the money will not come through.
But but I thought we HAD to re-elect John Olver and company because of all he could bring home for Fitchburg et/al?
“We were hesitant at first to announce publicly that the appropriation was approved, but officials for Olver said they were confident it would be approved based on past experiences.”
Of course they were. After all it wasn’t as if there was any kind of nationwide movement or something concerning wasteful spending was there?
Heafy said she received a letter stating that the fiscal 2011 Transportation HUD Appropriation Bill, which included the $300,000 for ARC Community Services, had not been passed by Congress but would be brought back up during its next session.
Oh in the next session, and tell me how many representatives do we have in the republican majority in that next session? Hmmm nearly, nearly one.
However, Republican leadership has stated it will not allow any earmarks to be approved in the bill when Congress takes it up in session again, Hunter Ridgway, Olver’s chief of staff, said Wednesday.
It looks like those who voted for Congressman Olver based on bringing home the bacon need to remember the disclaimer that investors have become familiar with “past performance is no indicator of future gains”.
Add to that democrat states like NY and Mass losing seats and republican states like Texas gaining them wholesale I suspect that it will be a long time before Mr. Olver and company have the clout in the house to raid the treasury.
We will as always get the government we deserve and will have to live with the votes we’ve cast, until at least 2012.
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