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While Administration Talks Spending Freeze, Congress Prepares to Create New $50 Million Park in the Caribbean

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On Wednesday, President Obama is expected to propose a three-year spending freeze during his State of the Union Address. As one senior administration official explained: "You can't afford to do everything that you might have always wanted to do…you have to take steps to control spending." Unfortunately, the Democrat Majority in Congress doesn’t seem to share the President’s new position…

Hastings, McClintock Propose Bill to Repeal Taxpayer Bailout for Federal Agency’s (WAPA) Failed Investments in Foreign & Domestic Energy Projects

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Today, House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Doc Hastings (WA-04), along with Water and Power Subcommittee Ranking Member Tom McClintck (CA-04), introduced The American Taxpayer and Western Area Power Administration Firm Power Customer Protection Act (H.R. 4027). This bill would eliminate the taxpayer bailout provision currently included in the “stimulus” statute that gave new…

Hastings Highlights Obama’s 9.1 Trillion Deficit, Reminds President of Promise to “Restore Discipline and Honesty to Our Budget”

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Today, House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Doc Hastings (WA-04) released the following statement regarding the Obama Administration’s Office of Management & Budget (OMB) report that its 10-year budget deficit projection will increase from $7.1 trillion to roughly $9 trillion and the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) report that the federal budget deficit for 2009 will…

6 Month “Stimulus” Anniversary: Hastings Asks Administration How Decisions Are Made, What Jobs Have Been Created

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As the trillion dollar “stimulus” bill reaches its six-month mark, House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Doc Hastings (WA-04) sent the attached letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack seeking answers on how spending decisions are being made, why the promise of immediately funding projects hasn’t been kept, and what jobs have actually been…

Are Millions of Stimulus Dollars Being Wasted on Duplicative Geospatial Data Collection and Mapping?

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In June, Vice President Biden admitted that some of the stimulus money “is going to be wasted.” Today, during an Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee hearing on Federal Geospatial Data Management, Ranking Member Doug Lamborn (CO-05) learned about possible stimulus waste from John Palatiello, Executive Director of Management Association for Private Photogrammetric Surveyors. During…

Five Months After Stimulus, Interior Department Has Paid Out 0.4% of Stimulus Funds

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Tomorrow, Friday, July 24th, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar will provide a progress report to the House Budget Committee on how stimulus funds are being spent by the Department of the Interior. Hopefully, the Secretary will explain why out of the $3 billion allocated to the Department, only $310 million (10%) has been obligated to specific projects and only $12 million (0.4%) has…

100 DAYS OF SPENDING LATER, STILL NO TRANSPARENCY OR SPECIFIC PROOF OF JOB CREATION

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As the Administration celebrates the first 100 days of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Doc Hastings sent the attached letter to Dr. Rowan Gould, Acting Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), to request that the Department of the Interior provide greater transparency regarding FWS stimulus projects. In his letter,…

Bureau of Reclamation Stimulus Funds - $1 billion; Getting Answers on How Many Jobs will be Created - Priceless

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In response to a unanimous request by Republicans on the Water and Power Subcommittee, the Subcommittee will hold an oversight hearing tomorrow to examine how the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Geological Survey will spend more than $1 billion in stimulus funds. “The supposed purpose of the stimulus bill was to create jobs and immediately revive our economy. So one has to wonder why…

Republicans Request Hearing on Bureau of Reclamation’s Stimulus Funding, Call for Transparency and Fiscal Accountability

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H.R.1 / Bureau of Reclamation Funding – “For an additional amount for `Water and Related Resources', $1,000,000,000.” (P.L. 111-5, Title IV) Today, Republican members of the House Natural Resources Water and Power Subcommittee sent the attached letter to Chairwoman Grace Napolitano requesting a hearing on how the Bureau of…

House Republicans Seek Transparency on how Bureau of Reclamation will Spend $1 Billion in Stimulus Funds

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H.R.1 / Bureau of Reclamation Funding – “For an additional amount for `Water and Related Resources', $1,000,000,000.” (P.L. 111-5, Title IV) Today, House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Doc Hastings (WA-04) and 8 House Republicans sent the attached letter to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar requesting a…