Obama Set To Charge Already Beleagured Taxpayers $50 Million For Inauguration Bash
Bailing out banks. Bailing out car companies. Now taxpayers are staring down the barrel of an “economic stimulus” spending spree that will represent 5% of our GDP (as compared to the 3.2% military spending represents) and Obama wants taxpayers to kick in $50 million for his inauguration bash.
“Even though we’re very practiced at inaugurations and large events, this is one that will rewrite the book on inaugurations,” said Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-Washington, D.C., who has requested an additional $15 million from Congress to help the city cover costs. That would double the $15 million Congress has already allocated to pay for all national events and demonstrations in Washington during 2009.
Mayor Adrian Fenty agreed that costs for increased security and crowd control would dwarf the original allocation. And for a city facing a budget shortfall and the same economic downturn affecting the rest of the country, now is not the time to rack up debt, Fenty told CNN. Watch more on the inauguration cost »
“We are in talks with the federal government as we sit here today to let them know — I think they already know that that’s not enough,” he said, referring to the initial $15 million allocation. “Now the question is if you want to make sure that you cross every ‘t’ and dot every ‘i,’ it does look like it’s going to be significantly more than that.”
Fenty predicted costs for the city would near $50 million.
Remember in 2004 when the media was all over Bush for having big inauguration celebrations while the country was in the midst of the war in Iraq?
Well given that we’re in the beginning of a recession, and hundreds of thousands of people are losing their jobs, and taxpayers are already being asked to spend what will undoubtedly amount to trillions of dollars on bailouts, why isn’t Obama being hammered for his lavish inauguration ceremonies and what they’re going to cost the taxpayers?
