Congressman: Minnesotans 'Screwed Us'
By Tom Shoop | Wednesday, August 08, 2007 | 11:36 AM
By Tom Shoop | Wednesday, August 08, 2007 | 11:36 AM
Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., isn't one of those people waxing rhapsodic about the need to help our fellow citizens in need after last week's 35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis. On the contrary, according to this report in the Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Times Leader, he thinks the $250 million bill Congress passed to rebuild the bridge was a taxpayer ripoff because it exceeded the normal $100 million limit for emergency relief projects.
The folks of Minnesota "discovered they were going to get all the money from the federal government and they were taking all they could get,” Kanjorski said at an economic summit at the University of Scranton. They used the tragedy “to screw us,” he added.
At the same event, Kanjorski declared that we're not just living through a seemingly endless era when people lack confidence in the performance of the government. No, he said, we're the brink of civil war. “I’m in fear for the survival of the republic,” he said. “People want to get their deer rifles out and go to the barricades.”
I haven't seen any barricades lately, but maybe I'm just not looking hard enough.
Comments
Interstate highway=Federal funds.
Ultimately, the federal government is responsible for the construction, repair, and maintenance of the Interstate system of highways. I don't see any problem with federal tax money being used to reconstruct this bridge, but then again, I also believe that federal gas tax money shouldn't be used to subsidize Amtrak's continued failure.
skh.pcola | Tuesday, August 14, 2007 | 08:34 PMThis guy must have run for office unopposed. Pennsylvanians must be really proud.
Anonymous | Thursday, August 09, 2007 | 08:28 AMWell Rep.Kanjorski maybe you should look at WHO builds Interstate highways. And then get off you Duff and repair them.
MAC | Thursday, August 09, 2007 | 08:11 AMCivil War? It may not be called that, but the mood is building and the means is there. People are just plain fed up and they can congregate on the Internet to plan their offensive. It doesn't have to be a war of weapons unless.......
The rule of law has become mere suggestion in the government and the will of the people is all but ignored completely. Tick-Tock Congress. Tick-Tock.
Robert M. | Thursday, August 09, 2007 | 07:08 AMYou can be sure if the Bridge was one over the Susquehanna River in Kanjorski's town he would be right up there seeking funds. What a joke.
Barbra Bronsberg | Thursday, August 09, 2007 | 07:05 AMDo you trust the government completely?
If not, how much do you trust the government?
Stephen C | Thursday, August 09, 2007 | 05:20 AMLooks like Congressman Kanjorski has accurately assessed the climate of the electorate. I got my rifle(s)
Advocator | Wednesday, August 08, 2007 | 03:40 PMI don't think it is fair to blame the people of Minnesota for what the Congress appropriated. If there was any screwing going on, it was the politicos that are having their convention there in the near future and they do not want to be inconvenienced by the absence of a bridge. Of course the Demo's don't want to be shortchange either. This way they can ensure the folks that they helped rebuild their bridge. Gotta be good for a few votes, don't ya think. Amazing how you can approve billions for fighting a phony war, but if we spend our tax dollars in this country, somehow that's screwing congress.
TGB | Wednesday, August 08, 2007 | 03:33 PMHas the Congressman got both oars in the water? Now I know why the country is in the state its in, one of our (I assume) elected officials thinks helping Americans in need can be classified as "screwing us". The Congressman needs to change parties. He fits right in with the Neo-Con fascist.
Greg Mackey | Wednesday, August 08, 2007 | 03:28 PMrunaway spending with no end in sight. Someone has got to say it; just can't believe a Dem said it. just wish the rest of the rulling elite would wake up and smell the asphault.
mike | Wednesday, August 08, 2007 | 02:58 PMABOUT THIS BLOG
Government Executive Editor Tom Shoop takes a look at news and events affecting the federal bureaucracy, from the perspective of a longtime observer of government.
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