Keith Ashdown
Keith Ashdown
belts everybody fly luxury telling
If they're telling everybody to tighten their belts and they're leasing these luxury cars, it just doesn't fly in Peoria.
creating government hunting money rather
I have better things to do than hunting around for where the money is hidden, ... We would rather the government be doing this, creating a one-stop shop. Is that really too much to ask?
basically jury
He's basically judge, jury and executioner for all this money.
business people
We need to get out of the business of subsidizing people who are in harm's way.
cunningham duke trading
Under this bill, Duke Cunningham still would be able to get away with trading bribes for earmarks.
people protecting supposed victims
We're supposed to be protecting the victims of the storms, not the people insuring them.
cost feeling kicked people percentage thousands
There could be a loophole of hundreds of thousands of people who would not be impacted. On a percentage of their income, they're the ones that are feeling (the cost increase) a lot, lot more. Some of us have been kicked, but they've been kicked in the teeth.
simple
We would have been much, much better off with no bill. Everything they did, there's a simple way around it.
definitely influence lobbyists lung second strategy
Most other lobbyists would give up their second lung to get that kind of access. It's not always illegal, but it's definitely a strategy of influence that's unparalleled.
bill challenges defense figure initial location money percent releases tied
One of the challenges of defense earmarks -- when you get initial bill 3 or 4 percent has a location tied to the earmark, then look at 535 releases and triangulate to figure out where the money is going.
betting billions cutting fiscal lose party pay promises public senators
Senators are betting that pandering to the public with billions in election-year promises will pay off more than they lose by cutting the fiscal conservatives in their own party off at the knees.
congress issue
The only issue will be how is Congress going to react.
absolute agency clue head highway math robbery value
This is absolute highway robbery and it really does show that the agency doesn't have a clue in getting real value of contracts. I've done the math in my head 100 times and I don't know how they computed this cost.
behavior bottom created energy industries pad profitable scheme sure
They've created a complicated scheme of making sure a lot of different profitable energy industries are going to make off like bandits, ... pad their bottom line, but it doesn't really create new behavior in the energy industry.