David Weldon: “the bill before us includes a $2 million earmark for an organization whose Executive Director, according to the attached…”

“the bill before us includes a $2 million earmark for an organization whose Executive Director, according to the attached Washington Post article, was sentenced in 1995 for taking over $4,000 from the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington. He was given a suspended five year prison sentence and ordered to perform several hundred hours of community service. He now draws an annual salary of $183,000 from Food and Friends, an organization that is supposed to be spending its money providing meals to those suffering from HIV/AIDS. I am very concerned about the $2 million earmark of taxpayer money. This special $2 million carve out is for this one organization, and is not subject to competition. No other groups, including groups who may offer much better services or who may be much more efficient, were not allowed an opportunity to compete for these funds. There will also be little oversight and accountability of how this organization spends these funds. This special $2 million earmark was not requested by the city of the District of Columbia and it was not in the President's budget request. There will be little if any oversight of how this $2 million will be spent. I believe this is an inappropriate earmark and am troubled by it's inclusion. I was deeply disappointed that the Senate, even after being made aware of these concerns, decided to go along with putting this in the final bill.”