In today’s Washington, Democrats and the bureaucrats seem determined to find ways to spend taxpayer money. I believe that we must fight wasteful spending everywhere we find it and in any way we can. Last week I wrote to President Obama about another wasteful use of taxpayer’s money – this one by the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA has promised to give a taxpayer funded cash prize for a YouTube video contest.

The EPA announced that they have “partnered to sponsor the Rulemaking Matters! video contest.” They have promised a cash award of $2,500 for the winning video. Although, the dollar amount may seem insignificant, it is the principle of protecting the taxpayer that is important. As I told the President “this may seem like a small issue, but the beltway mindset that prize money is an appropriate use of taxpayer funds is the same mindset that has driven this country into crippling debt. We have to confront this mindset, and defeat it, wherever we find it.”

The Clarksville Leaf Chronicle, in an editorial today stated “Although the EPA’s goal of educating Americans on how to get involved in the rule-making process basically is all right, the glory of having one’s video posted on the EPA’s website should provide incentive enough for entries.” Self serving campaigns like the EPA is engaging in constitute a complete waste of taxpayer monies.

I can’t help wondering how that Tennessean struggling to find a job to provide food for their family feels when they read that the EPA is awarding a prize of $2500 for a propaganda video promoting their rules and regulations. Americans For Tax Reform has it right when they write about the “The Latest Taxpayer-Funded Boondoggle: The EPA’s Video Propaganda Contest.”

It’s time to put a stop to this kind of wasteful government spending.

Cross posted at VoteMarsha.com