Taxpayers footing bill for luxury rides
Jim Brown - OneNewsNow - 5/6/2008 12:00:00 PM
CBS 2 in New York reports that several congressmen from New York and New Jersey are leasing luxury cars and SUVs on the taxpayers' dime. Among them is Congressman Gregory Meeks (D-New York), who leases a Lexus for nearly $1,000 month; and Congressman Charlie Rangel (D-New York) who leases a Cadillac DeVille for $774 a month.
Members of Congress have an office expense account in which they can lease a car, pay employees, or send out franked mail. Some members of Congress do not lease cars, but instead use their own or ask staff to drive them and then reimburse the driver for mileage.
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Tom Schatz, president of the group Citizens Against Government Waste, notes that Rangel is the same member of Congress who last year earmarked nearly $2 million for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at the City College of New York. Schatz told a Republican colleague who questioned the project that Rangel had not been in Congress long enough to deserve anything named after him.
"When members of Congress have this kind of view of themselves, it's no surprise that chairman Rangel would think that he deserves such a luxurious car in his own district," Schatz chides. "He doesn't have a desk in there; he uses a phone -- a phone can be used in any size automobile these days."
In defense of his taxpayer-funded Cadillac, Rangel says, "The car isn't just a vehicle for getting around; it's an important part of doing my job, and my constituents appreciate it."
But Schatz questions the mindset of congressmen who complain about oil companies but drive around in gas-guzzling automobiles. He says such members of Congress should be doing more to lessen America's dependence on foreign oil -- and those congressmen who do otherwise, he argues, are being "hypocritical."
