Record Keepers: The Bay Area Video Coalition Keeps the Static at Bay – SF Weekly
Record Keepers: The Bay Area Video Coalition Keeps the Static at BaySF WeeklyThe BAVC having been burglarized several times, she and Varney are obsessed with security, but they express nearly as much irritation with the kids leaving unwashed dishes in the sink. There's also quite a … People end up getting jobs in here …
Santa Came Early and Defense Contractors Got All the Good Toys Already (Reason Magazine – Hit and Run)
Reason contributor and Mercatus Center economist Veronique de Rugy writes at _The Daily Beast_ that the defense budget came out a real winner in this year's spending bill. Merry Christmas if you are getting some of the dough. Drinks on you.
> Who says Democrats and Republicans can’t get along? This week president Obama signed a massive one-stop bill (a.k.a “Cromnibus”) that will keep the government funded until the end of the fiscal year. Among other things, the bill appropriates $1.1 trillion in funding—including over $550 billion for the Department of Defense….
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> Although Congress managed to stay within agreed upon budget caps for the second year in a row, that’s about the best that can be said for the Cromnibus. Indeed, lawmakers appeared to be primarily concerned with pleasing defense contractors and protecting defense jobs back in the District. The Project on Government Oversight (POGO) found that the bill included billions of dollars that the Pentagon didn’t request. Among the unrequested programs were $341 million to modernize twelve Apache helicopters and nine Black Hawk helicopters, $1 billion to begin work on an additional San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship, $154 million for an additional P-8A Poseidon Navy surveillance aircraft …
Public service hiring freeze delivers $100 million cash bonanza to private recruiters
Federal opposition says the figures show the government’s public sector policies are a false economy, allowing bureaucrats to leave with large redundancy payouts only to return, sometimes within weeks, as contractors.
All Cooled Off: As Congress Convenes, Former Colleagues Will Soon be Calling … – Center for Responsive Politics
Center for Responsive PoliticsAll Cooled Off: As Congress Convenes, Former Colleagues Will Soon be Calling …Center for Responsive PoliticsOf the 104 former congressional members and staffers whose “cooling off” period ends during the first session of the 114th Congress, which opens today, 29 are already in government relations, “public affairs,” or serve as counsel at a firm that lobbies …