No Means What?

The Roar

No Means What?

On Thursday, November 17th, Congress killed the funds for Obama’s pet project of building  high-speed rails nation wide. Normally, this would end this debate.  Not so with Obama.  This reckless President, who views our Constitution as a mere nuisance rather than what it is, the law of the land, has another card up his sleeve.  It seems that there is substantial money to ensure that work will continue on certain projects.  Sen. Dick Durbin D-Ill, mentioned that “some money will be found to keep Obama’s train program going through the Transportation Department’s TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economy Recovery) program, which makes grants to projects that achieve critical national objectives.”  A 2012 spending bill contains approximately $500 million for the TIGER program.

So, just what did Congress accomplish and to what did the headline “Congress kills high-speed train” refer to?  Since congress holds the purse strings, how does this possibility present itself?  And what precedent does this set when preaching “no means no?”  Along with all his other Constitutional violations, Obama now stashes funds for constitutional (rainy) days.

Seriously, aside from the manipulation of funds, which now seem to lie around for this exact purpose, ala the approximate one hundred billion allocated for the ongoing implementation of Obamacare, defying the January 31st summary judgement which ruled the legislation to be unconstitutional, just how many types of “slush funds” are available for legislative detours?

Now, I must concede that the previously mentioned $100 billion was actually hidden within the thousands of pages which made up the Obamacare bill.  Given that this monetary inclusion is precedent setting and unethical, the question remains, if Congress votes down a piece of legislation, just how is it that a Presidential policy continues while negating a congressional vote?  At what point did money overtake legislation?

Since assuming office, it seems that the current administration “has steered $10.1 billion to high speed rail projects around the country.”  This national need confounds since  the jammed Northeast corridor is where the commuter action is most prevalent.

Many State governments have refused this high-speed rail funding due to the down the road expenses.  Ultimately, this project is just another make work program which adds to the rolls of governmental employment.  All at the taxpayer’s expense.  Buying votes is now a high speed business and one that seems most efficient when circumventing congress.

Jim Bowman, Author of,
This Roar of Ours