Sense on Cents

Instinctively, I am very suspicious of how $1 billion was spent on the ‘Cash for Clunkers’ program within such a short time frame. As such, is it unreasonable to ask for an audit of this program prior to allocating more funds? Who is to say that some degree of misappropriation, if not outright fraud, has occurred?

Whose money is being allocated? Yours and mine. I want an accounting. Who is supposed to protect our interests? Our elected representatives. They must be held accountable.

Perhaps there has been no fraud or misappropriation in the allocation of these funds. Perhaps administratively this program is overmatched by demand. If so, those administering the funds should swallow their pride and say as much.

I find  it totally unacceptable, though, that upon request those in Washington overseeing this program can not give a timely and accurate accounting. As the Associated Press reports, Obama Administration Withhold Data on Clunkers:

The Obama administration is refusing to quickly release government records on its “cash-for-clunkers” rebate program that would substantiate — or undercut — White House claims of the program’s success, even as the president presses the Senate for a quick vote for $2 billion to boost car sales.

The Transportation Department said it will provide the data as soon as possible but did not specify a time frame or promise release of the data before the Senate votes whether to spend $2 billion more on the program.

We deserve so much better!!

LD

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 4th, 2009 at 3:31 PM and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.