Chuck Grassley: “why are the taxpayers up in arms about Washington, DC? I think it is because they know how to spend their money better…”

“why are the taxpayers up in arms about Washington, DC? I think it is because they know how to spend their money better than Washington does. Americans are overtaxed. Ask any of them. Washington is also overweight. Today American workers work longer, they work harder, just so that Washington can spend more of their money. Taxpayers sacrifice more, I am sorry to say, so that Washington can spend more. That is just not right. I want to make it possible for taxpayers to keep more of their own money. Part of that is to get Congress then to stop spending so darn much of it in the first place. That is why whenever I see a grossly wasteful program, I feel obliged to squeeze the fat out of it. And I urge my colleagues to help in that effort. Maritime subsidies, the subject of this legislation, is one, one blatant example of how Washington wastes taxpayers' hard-earned money. It is a case study in how Washington turns common sense upside down. Instead of competition for lower costs, this program creates a monopoly that raises costs. Now we all expect competition to lower costs, and in most instances it does lower costs, but the program that is in this legislation creates a monopoly. And you know what happens most of the time when you have a monopoly? That ends up raising costs. Instead of supporting the national security, as this program purports to do, this program is becoming irrelevant to national security.”