ABC Presents Rep. Mica's Pet Project As GOP Hypocrisy on Budget Reduction
Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
That could accurately describe Republicans' relationship to the liberal media on budget matters.
While the mainstream media often raise a clamor about GOP plans to cut back on arts funding -- see this article from yesterday's Washington Post -- it seems any move to do the opposite will also face scorn.
Take ABCNews.com's "The Blotter" and its take on Rep. John Mica's (R-Fla.) proposal to expand funding the National Art Gallery:
Just as Republicans in Congress have been calling for an aggressive crackdown on federal spending, one powerful House leader has declared that his desire to expand the National Gallery of Art -- at an estimated cost of $270 million -- has become his singular, top priority on Capitol Hill.
Rep. John Mica, the Florida Republican who chairs the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, has spent years pushing legislation to evict the Federal Trade Commission from its stately historic building on Pennsylvania Avenue in the heart of Washington, D.C., to make space for the art gallery expansion. Even after taking the helm of a committee that helps set the nation's policy on everything from air safety to mass transit to highway construction, Mica has maintained his laser focus on winning approval for this pet project.
"I have no other priority for the balance of my tenure in Congress," Mica said at a House subcommittee meeting in March.
Of course Mica is an aggressive proponent of other pork projects such as an Obama-favored costly high-speed rail project that Gov. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) nixed earlier this year.
That doesn't necessarily mean Mica's going to get his way, especially in a Republican House full of Tea Party freshmen who are skeptical of congressional pet projects.
- Ken Shepherd's blog
- Login to post comments
Comments
Mica should get some funds so
Submitted by Newsbusterbrown on Wed, 04/20/2011 - 1:41pm.
Mica should get some funds so he can afford a real toupee to wear on his head from now on.
“There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right.” - Ronald Reagan (1964 Republican Convention)
Where's the scorn?
Submitted by CobraMan on Wed, 04/20/2011 - 2:53pm.
I don't see any "scorn" in this, at least not the way it's presented here.. It's factual and without any apparent commentary disguised as "news." It is, in my opinion, unbiased.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
Mica the RINO.
Submitted by Grumpy in Arizona on Wed, 04/20/2011 - 4:15pm.
“…expand the National Gallery of Art -- at an estimated cost of $270 million -- has become his singular, top priority on Capitol Hill.”
NB connoisseur’s… This is exactly the problem with the out of touch RINO’s in Congress and the clueless Republican elites! They have no idea of the meaning of “stop the frivolous spending on pet-projects.”
For goodness sake! Doesn’t Mica (and his cohorts) understand what happened just last November? What do they not grasp about the fact that this nation cannot afford another $270 million?
This is disheartening.
I can only hope a real conservative runs against this clown in next years primary.
Who made this clown Mica a Republican?
Submitted by DaMav on Thu, 04/21/2011 - 2:29am.
Let's hope he gets primaried and booted fast.
The real story here isn't about ABC. Just another reason I give 100% of my contributions to candidates and 0% to the Republican Party.
The real story here is the slant
Submitted by MissMinPhx on Thu, 04/21/2011 - 1:36pm.
The real story is that ABC conveniently slanted the facts. The reader has to read all the way to the end of the story - the very last sentence, in fact, to learn that Rep. Mica does not believe the project will cost $270 million. That figure is based on having to build a new building for the FTC (the art museum would then move into the old FTC facility), but Rep. Mica clearly says he does not support building a new facility for FTC. As well, the museum is a revenue-generating entity ... it earns money, unlike tons of wasteful government programs. ABC tried to make this story about hypocrisy and waste by slanting the facts and twisting them when really the story about a representative who IS being fiscally responsible despite wanting to see a new home for the museum he loves.