Director of the Office of Budget Management John Mulvaney’s comment regarding after-school programs was poorly worded, but when you dig WELL below the surface of these cuts to see all the waste, fraud and abuse that have been cleverly slipped into the fabric of the funding available for such programs, you get a clear picture of WHY it is necessary to drain the full swamp in order to rid the pond of the bogus programs that are taking funds away from legitimate causes and benefactors.
Example…After School Satan Club! Founding org Reason Alliance, under Obama’s watch, applied for and received 501 ( c )( 3 ) status on October 21, 2014 and was awarded their exemption on October 31, 2014. TEN DAYS! (Proof provided in the links of this post) That made them eligible for Fed funding with “after school programs.”
I guess separation of church and state only applies to Christians? Right?
Well, those days are over!
My opinion – religious and faith based programs should operate outside public school systems.
Remember the 2013 IRS targeting controversy when the conservative groups, were either denied tax-exempt status or they were delayed until they could no longer take effective part in the 2012 election?
FEDERAL FUNDING REQUIREMENTS, RESPONSIBILITY & ACCOUNTABILITY
When an organization applies for federal funding, they must submit extensive paperwork that details the organization and its goals. Once they are granted Federal funding, they have a RESPONSIBILITY to report their finances, their success/fail rates and detailed financial reports Every Single Year! Since Mulvaney SAYS there is no evidence that these programs help to the degree claimed and for which they were awarded funding, they have to be cut.
That clearly means many programs that have been receiving Federal funding are NOT doing their job! They can’t just be awarded funding year after year and not work for it!
IRS REQUIREMENTS FOR EXEMPTION (which is used to determine eligibility for funding)
According to the IRS website, if an organization that has received a 501(c)(3) status fails to file necessary reports for 3 years, they will be stripped of their exemption.
One of my personal favorite non-profit organizations is Crossroads Easter Seals. My husband worked as a supervisor for Crossroads Industrial Services when we first married. I know that organization works very hard to accomplish their goals and provide educational and employment resources to those with physical, emotional, intellectual, social and educational disabilities.
Every year Crossroads receives Federal grants. Every year Crossroads provides an annual report that is made available to the public. View the 2016 report here.
I’ve always said working at Crossroads wasn’t so good for our bank account, but it was great for his soul. There have been countless times we’ve both wished he could have stayed on there.
WASTE, FRAUD AND ABUSE MUST BE ELIMINATED
Based on what I KNOW about President Trump and his administration – I am more than certain they are pulling the plug on sectors that have the worst abusers woven in their fund distributions. It is unrealistic to try to analyze every single recipient when SO many slipped in during a time when every “non-conservative” group was being approved by the IRS. To ensure recipients of Federal funding are fulfilling their obligations, and because of very poor management over the last eight years, it is much better to scrap programs and start from scratch where more funding will be available for those organizations and programs that are most deserving of Federal funding while putting other programs back into the hands of the states.
It IS the job of the Federal Government
to protect & defend the Constitution.
It is NOT the job of the Federal Government
to be the people’s keeper.
RETURNING POWER TO THE STATES
It would be FAR more efficient for the states to fund their own local activities including school and antipoverty programs. This would eliminate the expensive federal middleman. By ending numerous federal aid programs, the need for high-paid bureaucrats in Washington tasked with administering the money going back to the states would be cut as well. States would also be relieved of costly federal regulations that are tied to aid programs.
This is NOT about cutting funds to great program ideas – it's reorganizing in a way that is most beneficial to those good ideas!
How many times have you scrapped a project that was not salvageable?
If a project you were working on was costing you large sums, you would scrap it and devise a plan that was more cost effective.
If you’d like to see some prime examples of ridiculous waste of taxpayer money, check out these REAL studies that have received $1 million – $3.9 million in taxpayer dollars then you’ll see why swamps MUST be drained and refilled responsibly.
I am in the process of picking through the Trump Budget to explore what is being cut and why. Please stay tuned for more REAL NEWS and facts.
