Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), a practicing physician and ranking member of a Senate oversight committee, just released a report on out of control spending and waste at the Center For Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta. The report questions the CDC's spending on things such as $200,000.00 for equipment at the employee fitness center that includes things like zero-gravity chairs and mood-enhancing light shows. The CDC has also spent $1.7 million dollars advising TV shows (such as ER and 24) on how to make their programs medically accurate.
Coburn's report on the CDC provided details on a massive construction project at the CDC's headquarters in Atlanta that has exceeded $1 billion (that's 1,000,000,000.00 dollars ... it looks so much bigger this way). The new buildings include a $106 million communications center with a 70 foot by 25 foot wall of plasma video screens for visitors. The Center is named after Sen Tom Harkin (D-IA) who surprisingly was the ranking member of the Senate appropriations subcommittee overseeing the CDC. The new $110 million headquarters building (with $9.8 million in new furniture) is named after Sen Arlen Spectre (R-PA) who is the former chairman of the Senate sub-committee shaping the CDC budget.
If you were to ask me, if they were going to spend all of that tax-payer money ... I would have preferred them to put it into R&D and maybe find a cure for something ... but that's just me ... maybe they really needed all that stuff.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
CDC Shinanigans
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19 comments:
It's past time for our elected representatives in both the Senate and Legislature to do their jobs and part of their jobs is to hold down spending whereever and whenever possible. They have all failed in this endeavor. All they can think about is can we have another federal proscutor assigned to go after the administration, whats left of it since their democratic witch hunts, The administration has surrendered to their constant belittling and shouts of incompetents at the staff. Most of which have quit or retired. This however does not negate their responsibilities to the taxpayers of this country. That they have stopped doing and it should not be tolerated any more......!! Rambling again!!!
tapline ... ramble away all you want (since you are right). There is a sense of entitlement in the Congress (by both partys) ... that they are entitled to do whatever they want with our tax dollars ... and this has got to stop.
Thanks for the plug!
U.S. Senate
Washington, D.C.
US Senate ... thank god you guys read these blogs, maybe some of the common sense of the people will find its way to you.
~the citizenry~
Wow!..but isn't that like providing just symptomatic relief? Can mood be elevated by movies? I wonder!
This is like cutting the leaves of a poisinous tree. They will always grow back. The cure lies in getting to the roots!!
what a waste of public money!!
Champagne dear. How are you doing?
(((HUGS)))
Guess I'd rather have them spend my tax dollars this way than on stupid wars.
Paul Champagne,
You have both Mona AND Cherry writing on this post?
Good Job, They are both very Hot chicks!!!
There is always room for a political blog!!!
OK, no bashing the CDC! They support my Gingervitus: Race for the Cure Campaign!!
True, finding a cure would be a good idea (if you hadn't suggested it, I'd have had no idea how they should waste it. My government wastes it any way they please, but it's less transparent than yours, so no one has enough info to complain...;-))
mona ... I'm doing well darling ... I think government waste is very deeply rooted in all nations. Here in the States, we need to clean house and throw at least 90% of our elected officials out and probably 75% of the un-elected beaurocrats too.
cherrie ... I don't want them "wasting" my tax dollars on anything ... if they have too much money they should give it back to the people so we can fill up our gas tanks.
g-man ... welcome to my blog. You're right, they are very hott ... just trying to live up to the example that you set.
mike ... the CDC does not support finding a cure for gingervitus ... I hear they are all South Park fans and don't want the storyline to end.
eve ... I have a secret for you ... all governments waste the people's money. It's just human nature ... when you have kids, they take long showers, leave the TV on all night and forget to turn off the lights when they leave the room. It's because it's your money they are wasting ... it's not till they start paying utility bills that they realize that they should be conserving money. Until governments live on a fixed income (without being able to borrow ... or just print more money), they will continue to spend like children.
How can you possible expect them to do R&D without mood lighting and plasma walls??? Thats ridiculous!
It's sad when you are no longer shocked by this sort of outrageous spending...that's just what I expect...I am shocked actually that they didn't but a sauna on each floor with free massages after!
jenny ... we shouldn't be shocked by this ... we should be OUTRAGED!!!
How do you know that they don't have saunas and free massages?
Paul:
Well, when you spell it out for me...I can be a bit more outraged!
jenny ... there's nothing like getting a girl all worked up ... politically of course.
I see....! In that case, we should refuse to pay our taxes...lol! Yup, you're right - my younger sis is really very philosophical about spending money; she says, "It's not my money anyway - it's Mama's!" ;-)
eve ... please pay your taxes ... it's impossible to blog from jail.
It's not that hard to get this girl worked up...politically speaking!
jenny ... don't you just love speaking in code ;)
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