Nothing can compare with the horrible outrage of bureaucrats awarding themselves bonuses after putting veterans on secret waiting lists and denying them care, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t care about the latest example of overspending and mismanagement by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Having taxpayers pay nearly $300,000 just so a bureaucrat can move from one highly paid job in DC to another highly paid job in Philadelphia should get every American upset. Here are some of the sordid details from a local news report.
Rep. Jeff Miller (R., Fla.), who chairs the House Veterans Affairs Committee, has also raised questions about the salary and “relocation payments” to the new director of the Philadelphia office, Diana Rubens. Rubens, who was a senior executive in the D.C. office when she was tapped in June to take over the troubled Philadelphia branch, received more than $288,000 in relocation expenses. “The government shouldn’t be in the business of doling out hundreds of thousands in cash to extremely well-compensated executives just to move less than three hours down the road,” Miller said. …Under federal regulations, an agency can pay a variety of costs associated with reassigning an employee, including moving, closing costs, and a per-diem allowance for meals and temporary lodging for the employee’s household.
I’m baffled at how somebody could run up such a big bill. Did she use the space shuttle as a moving van?
Did she have to stay six months at a 5-star resort while waiting for her new house to be ready?
Does a per-diem allowance allow three meals a day at the most expensive restaurant in town?
This is either a case of fraud, which is outrageous, or it’s legal, which means it’s an outrageous example of government run amok.
Regardless, it underscores what I wrote back in 2011.
I will never relent in my opposition to tax increases so long as the crowd in Washington is spending money on things that are not appropriate functions of the federal government. …I will also be dogmatic in my fight against higher taxes so long as there is massive waste, fraud, and abuse in federal programs.
Not to mention that we should never allow tax hikes when it’s so simple to balance the budget with modest spending restraint.
