Voting Resources
Democrats Throw Away Taxpayer Money Just Like They Throw Away Jobs
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is a political committee devoted to maintaining and increasing the 239-member Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
According to new revelations Friday, bankrupt stimulus poster child Solyndra not only lost $535 million in taxpayer money, the company was caught on tape literally throwing millions of dollars of assets in dumpsters while still owing taxpayers millions:
SOLYNDRA CAUGHT RED-HANDED “DESTROYING MILLIONS OF DOLLARS WORTH OF PARTS” DESPITE OWING TAXPAYERS NEARLY HALF A BILLION DOLLARS: “After filing for bankruptcy last year, Fremont solar company Solyndra still owes American taxpayers half a billion dollars. But CBS 5 caught them destroying millions of dollars worth of parts.”
“At Solyndra’s sprawling complex in Fremont, workers in white jumpsuits were unwrapping brand new glass tubes used in solar panels last week. They are the latest, most cutting-edge solar technology, and they are being thrown into dumpsters.” (“Bankrupt Solyndra Caught Destroying New Parts,” CBS San Francisco, 1/19/2012)
WHY DOES A COMPANY THAT OWES TAXPAYERS MILLIONS THROW MILLIONS IN ASSETS IN THE TRASH?: “Solyndra paid at least $2 million for the specialized glass. A CBS 5 crew found one piece lying in the parking lot. Solyndra still owes the German company that made the tubes close to another $8 million.
“So why is a bankrupt company that owes a fortune to creditors, including American taxpayers, throwing away millions of dollars worth of assets?” (“Bankrupt Solyndra Caught Destroying New Parts,” CBS San Francisco, 1/19/2012)
WHILE OBAMA CAMPAIGN SIGNALS INTENTION TO RUN ON FAILURE, CELEBRATING NOW-BANKRUPT SOLYNDRA IN THEIR FIRST 2012 AD: “Don't think Chicago is deeply concerned about the brand damage that the Solyndra semi-scandal can wreak? Of all President Obama's vulnerabilities (Isn't this race supposed to be about the economy?), Team Obama chose to attack Solyndra right out of the gate, placing Obama, literally, in a sea of solar panels, amid quotes proclaiming him to be cleaner than clean -- wallowing in the future.” (Glenn Thrush, “Decoding Obama’s First Ad: S-O-L-Y-N-D-R-A,” Politico, 1/19/2012)
These revelations are all the more shocking given that President Obama just chose to destroy tens of thousands of shovel-ready Keystone jobs, prioritizing his Washington interest group allies over thousands of jobless workers:
“THE ANTI-JOBS PRESIDENT” REJECTS JOB-CREATING KEYSTONE PIPELINE: (Editorial, “The Anti-Jobs President,” The Wall Street Journal, 1/19/2012)
OBAMA THROWS 20,000 “SHOVEL-READY” JOBS IN THE DUMPSTER: (Editorial, “Keystone Cop-Out,” The Wall Street Journal, 11/11/2011)
LONG-TERM JOBS IMPACT: UP TO 130,000 JOBS: “Many of those 20,000 jobs on the construction of the pipeline would have been filled by skilled union members. Eventually, the completed pipeline was expected to result in as many as 130,000 jobs, many of them on the upper Texas Coast, where the heavy oil would be refined into 700,000 barrels of oil daily.” (Editorial, “Keystone Pipeline is the Wrong Call,” The Houston Chronicle, 11/11/2011)
KEYSTONE JOBS MAY GO TO CHINA AFTER OBAMA DECISION: “President Barack Obama’s decision yesterday to reject a permit for TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL oil pipeline may prompt Canada to turn to China for oil exports.” (Theophilis Arigitis and Jeremy Loon, “Obama Keystone Denial Prompts Canada to Focus on China,” Bloomberg, 1/19/2012)
GREEN GROUPS THREATENED TO ABANDON OBAMA IF HE APPROVED KEYSTONE: “Environmental groups have been protesting the pipeline that would run from Alberta oil sands to Texas refineries, and there have been rumblings that greens would abandon Obama next fall if he approved it.” (Dan Berman and Darren Goode, “Obama Punts Keystone XL Pipeline,” Politico, 11/10/2011)
USA TODAY: OBAMA DECISION “THE MOST CRAVEN SORT OF ELECTION-YEAR POLITICS”: “What's really going on here, of course, is the most craven sort of election-year politics. The Obama administration seemed to be on its way to approving Keystone when environmental groups made the pipeline a key test of their support for the president, who suddenly decided the administration couldn't possibly make a decision until sometime after the election.” (“Obama’s Pipeline Decision Delays Energy Security,” USA Today, 1/18/2012)
The Democrats’ disregard for both taxpayer money and job creation increasingly appears to be a pattern of behavior, with Democrats repeatedly deferring to radical environmentalist fundraising groups with job-destroying decisions as election year political payback:
A PATTERN OF POLITICAL PAYBACK:
4,257 NEW REGULATIONS IN THE WORKS, MORE THAN 200 WILL COST OVER $100 MILLION ANNUALLY—15% MORE REGULATIONS THAN IN 2010.“Appropriate and responsible regulations play an important policymaking role. Yet the Obama administration has turned rule-making into an assault on American businesses and the jobs they create. Right now, 4,257 new regulations are in the works, 219 of which will cost over $100 million annually — 15 percent more than last year.” (Editorial, “How Obama’s Rules Hold Back Chicago Business,” The Chicago Sun-Times, 8/30/2011)
OBAMA GAVE “EMBATTLED” EPA A HUG WHILE GIVING WORKERS THE COLD SHOULDER: “On a day when Republican presidential candidates stumped for votes in New Hampshire, President Obama paid a visit Tuesday afternoon to the employees of the embattled Environmental Protection Agency, which has been the target of GOP disdain.” (David Nakamura, “Obama Gives Embattled EPA a Pep Talk,” The Washington Post, 1/10/2012)
HOW IS EPA “EMBATTLED” WHEN OBAMA LETS EPA BUREAUCRATS HAVE THE REGULATIONS THEY WANT, DESTROYING 183,000 JOBS A YEAR, 1.65 MILLION JOBS DESTROYED THROUGH 2020?: (“EPA Finalizes New Rule That Will Hurt American Economy,” American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, 12/21/2011)
LIKE CLOCKWORK: DEMOCRATS’ ENVIRONMENTALIST FUNDRAISING ORGANIZATION BASE REJOICES OVER EPA’S JOB-DESTROYING DECISION: “Environmentalists rallied so hard for the Obama administration on Wednesday, you’d think power plants were shooting cotton candy from their smokestacks.” (Erica Martinson, “EPA Power Plant Rule Has Greens Pro-Obama,” Politico, 12/22/2011)
WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF BILL DALEY, BROUGHT ON TO MEND FENCES WITH JOB CREATORS, RECENTLY ANNOUNCED HIS RESIGNATION: (Christi Parsons, “William Daley to Step Down as Obama’s Chief of Staff,” Los Angeles Times, 1/9/2012)
ENVIROS REJOICE, “SAY ‘GOOD RIDDANCE’ TO DALEY”: “Bill Daley left plenty of fingerprints on energy policy during his yearlong stint in the White House, but environmentalists will remember him most for undercutting EPA's attempts to set tough new air pollution limits.
“The outgoing White House chief of staff, who announced his departure Monday, is seen as the person to blame for successfully urging President Barack Obama last summer to halt the ozone standards.
“Daley's views became clear, greens say, during an August meeting with the American Lung Association and other public health officials. There, Obama's top West Wing aide doubted the quality of their polling data and cited industry concerns about job losses connected to a tougher EPA rule.” (Darren Samuelsohn, “Greens Say ‘Good Riddance’ to Daley,” Politico, 1/9/2012)
OBAMA’S “GREEN” PROGRAM THAT FUNDED NOW-BANKRUPT SOLYNDRA “INFUSED WITH POLITICS AT EVERY LEVEL”: “Meant to create jobs and cut reliance on foreign oil, Obama’s green-technology program was infused with politics at every level, The Washington Post found in an analysis of thousands of memos, company records and internal e-mails. Political considerations were raised repeatedly by company investors, Energy Department bureaucrats and White House officials.
“The records, some previously unreported, show that when warned that financial disaster might lie ahead, the administration remained steadfast in its support for Solyndra.” (Joe Stephens and Carol D. Leonnig, “Solyndra: Politics Infused Obama Energy Programs,” The Washington Post, 12/25/2011)
