Posted on 09/24/2013 3:24:39 AM PDT by Doogle
WASHINGTON – As D.C. lawmakers talk tough over a looming government shutdown, one item House members have not said much about is a six-figure “gift” they tucked into the latest spending bill. The little-noticed provision would pay the widow of the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg – who was a millionaire -- $174,000 in tax-free funds.
The payment is part of a time-honored practice of paying out death benefits to lawmakers' families. But it's caught the eye of government watchdogs who say it's time to put an end to that practice.
Daniel Shuman, policy director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, first noticed the payment to the widow of the late New Jersey Democratic senator.
"How is this a top funding priority?" he asked.
Shuman questioned why the House, which voted to cut $40 billion from food stamps over the next decade and is locked in a stand-off over de-funding ObamaCare, would so easily pony up thousands of dollars for this benefit payment. Not all lawmakers are independently wealthy, but Lautenberg was among the wealthiest.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
his Minimum net worth: $56.8 million
I say we create a ‘time-honored’ practice and take every Senator and Congressman who has been there more than 10 years and run them out of town on a rail.
That’s a pretty nice gift. I barely have enough insurance to bury me.
...if they are getting money, makes you wonder if THEY pay a death tax like everyone else....
Awww...what’s the big deal about “tucking” away a couple of hundred thousand for a liberal millionaire’s widow. That’s peanuts compared to what the rest of the liberals tuck away for themselves in all spending bills. Pelosi, Feinstein, Boxer, Reed and the rest always “tuck” away millions that we hardly even notice. I say it is time to stop the “tucking” and stop the “phu__ing” of the American taxpayer.
Some pigs are more equal than others-—— we get a $264 social security burial benefit, the senator’s grieving wife, $174,000.
If the widow was poor, it might be one thing, but there is no excuse for this in Lautenberg’s case.
It started back in the days of Davy Crockett.
Some animals are more equal than others........
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