BA Spending Daily August 28, 2012

“Vets Affairs Agency May Have Spent $100 Million on Events”

Bloomberg reports, “The Department of Veterans Affairs may have spent more than $100 million for conferences last year, including two events in Orlando, Florida, according to a U.S. lawmaker. The agency has provided conflicting reports on its conference budget for the year that ended Sept. 30, Representative Jeff Miller, chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, wrote in an Aug. 16 letter to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki. The department also told the panel last year it may have put aside $20 million for events in 2011, the Florida Republican said. The VA’s inspector general is reviewing spending at the two conferences held at a Marriott International Inc. resort near Walt Disney World that cost a total of about $5 million. The expenditures included about $52,000 for a video spoof of the Oscar-winning movie ‘Patton,’ said Miller, who released a copy of the video today. … The agency in February 2011 told the House committee that $20 million was budgeted for national conferences in fiscal 2011, and that $22 million was budgeted for the following year.”

$8 Billion Spending Surprise
Politico reports, “That six-month CR deal backed by House Republicans is looking a little richer these days — thanks to updated spending estimates from the Congressional Budget Office. Prior to going home for the summer, Speaker John Boehner agreed to a continuing resolution, or CR, framework that would set appropriations levels at an annual rate of $1.047 trillion beginning Oct 1. and running through the November election and into next spring. This was described then as close to a freeze given all the puts-and-takes of the anticipated CBO estimates. But to the surprise of many, the agency now says it represents an $8 billion increase from what it calculates the current rate of discretionary spending, $1.039 trillion. In the larger realm of federal budgets, that’s not a huge difference — less than 1 percent of total appropriations. But it’s twice what anyone predicted and certainly the Appropriations Committees had bet on a number much closer to $1.047 trillion — if not above.”

Government Wants You To Sign Up for More Government Assistance
The Washington Times writes, “More Americans rely on their families for assistance than the government, so federal officials have undertaken an effort to help people to apply for federal assistance. ‘Given that only 15 percent of you turn to government assistance in tough times, we want to make sure you know about benefits that could help you,’ USA.gov announced today. The ‘government made easy’ website has created a ‘help for difficult financial times’ page for people to learn more about the programs. The government got that statistic from a poll asking Americans what helps them the most during tough times. Here are the results: Savings 44%, Family 21%, Credit cards/loans 20%, Government assistance 15%.”

Spain’s Recession Worsens
Bloomberg reports, “Spain’s recession worsened in the second quarter as the government’s austerity push to reduce the euro area’s third-biggest budget deficit and a slump in consumer spending offset growth in exports. Gross domestic product fell 0.4 percent from the previous quarter, when it declined 0.3 percent, the Madrid-based National Statistics Institute said today. … Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy last month gave up on his forecast for a return to growth in 2013 as he unveiled budget cuts that will expand austerity measures to a total of 15 percent of annual GDP by 2014.”

Ryan Vows to Take on Federal Spending in Send-Off Rally