Monday, March 13, 2006

Priorities at work

Look, I'll pay for a bicycle built for two, but that's it. Remember, next time you key a Hummer, you've just increased your taxes. Now this is how to make ecoterrorists pay!
Taxpayers paid more than $1 million last year for members of Congress to lease vehicles, including dozens of gas-guzzling SUVs and expensive luxury cars.

Some members of Congress use their office budgets to lease Lexuses, Lincolns, Cadillacs, an Infiniti, even a BMW 530i, which one auto critic called "one of the world's best sport luxury sedans." The lease prices of some cars topped $1,000 a month.

A few leased two cars on the taxpayers' dime; two lawmakers leased three.

Leasing cars is a little-known perk used by 136 members of the 435-member House of Representatives in 2005. The Senate doesn't allow its members to lease cars with their office budgets. Last year, the House leases cost at least $1.05 million. Taxpayers also paid for hundreds of thousands of dollars more in gas and insurance.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey, Helmut! You've inspired a new word, one not located by a Google search. (That is pretty much the standard, right?)

And the word is: Gimmeocracy.

Gimme, as in "Gimme this, gimme that, gimme a fine Bavarian motorcar."

-ocracy, as in government.

It's a Republican gimmeocracy.

It's fun to say, and it says so much. Feel free to spread it around.

helmut said...

Kind of the mirror image of a goaheadandfuckingtakeitocracy.