As our country drowns under $18 trillion worth of national debt, the federal government has decided to spend more money on manure. At this point, it's hard for us to be surprised. Elizabeth Harrington of the Washington Free Beacon reports:
Almost six years after the passage of the stimulus package, taxpayer dollars have finally found their way into a shovel ready project: $60,000 to haul horse manure.
Sold as an opportunity to bring America into the “21st century,” the Recovery and Reinvestment Act, commonly known as the stimulus, is now being used to remove wild horse manure off of public lands.
According to a contract awarded last week, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will pay $58,650 to load, haul, and dispose manure from a corral in Burns, Oregon. The facility holds wild horses and burros found on the Oregon range where they await adoption.
“Manure shall be wind-rowed, piled if necessary, loaded, and hauled to a site for a beneficial use,” the BLM said in their solicitation outlining the project. “If there is no beneficial use for the manure, then it shall be legally disposed of in a landfill or by another approved disposal practice.”
“Stockpiling of the manure shall not be permitted,” they added.
The government anticipated that laborers would be paid $16.86 an hour plus fringe benefits for the job, which was awarded to ACW, Inc., a company in Hines, Oregon.
The contract is good through September 2015, with four option years; meaning stimulus funds could be spent on hauling horse manure until 2019.
Using the Convention of States process, the people -- working through their state legislatures -- can force Congress to spend taxpayer money more wisely. With a balanced budget amendment in place, it will be difficult for Congress to justify spending money on things like horse manure.
If you'd like to be a part of the solution, if you'd like to help preserve liberty for our children and grandchildren, click here to sign the Convention of States petition. Two minutes of your time today can make a world of difference tomorrow.
