Jack Kingston: “I could not sit back and listen to the previous speaker without responding to the American taxpayers. There are 40,000…”

“I could not sit back and listen to the previous speaker without responding to the American taxpayers. There are 40,000 organizations that receive over $39 billion in taxpayer funded grants and so forth, and they are not subject to public disclosure or records of where the money went. One group received 97 percent of its budget from the Federal Government and turned around and gave $405,000 to congressional candidates through their PAC. I do not think that is what the taxpayers want. There are plenty of good organizations who will continue to get funding and will continue to have political input. What we want to do is stop the abuse of taxpayer moneys for political purposes. I have cosponsored an amendment to this bill that says that if you spend less than $25,000 a year on political activities, you are exempt from it. There is also a provision in the bill that exempts you if 5 percent or less of your money is spent on it. This is not going after the small groups. This is going after the big political business groups. I urge my colleagues to support the Istook- McIntosh amendment.”