Wild Life Equals Wild Cost

Author: Sarah Riordan

Would you buy a car from a salesman who wouldn’t tell you the price?  Given that everyone most likely answered “no” to the above question, the same principal should apply to Congress and taxpayers.   As taxpayers, we shouldn’t buy a bill from Congress that doesn’t list a definite price.

Congressman Ron Kind is the salesman here and he is presenting a potentially costly bill (maybe or maybe not; we don’t know) H.R. 7151, with no mention of a dollar amount.  Kind argues in his bill that wildlife is a valued part of society and should therefore be protected.  His solution to the problem is simply to establish a government funded group that observes wildlife in designated regions with the mission to note any decline or increase in their population.

That all sounds good. After all, who doesn’t hold affection for the fuzzy, little creatures of nature? But a key part of the proposal was left out of the bill; the cost!  Naturally, as taxpayers, we’ll be footing the bill for this observation committee (or whatever), and I think it’s important that we know what exactly we’re funding.

That’s the problem with a lot of the bills Congress puts forth.  They vote to pass their pet projects with little to no thought regarding from where the money is coming.  Apparently Congress believes that the wallets of taxpayers contain an endless supply of cash.   If a bill with obvious costs doesn’t give estimation for those costs, it should be scrapped from the get go. 

Wildlife is one of our earth’s greatest assets and we should respect and ensure that it remains preserved for future generations.  However, Kind needs to do a little homework here.  Spell it out so that we the taxpayers know exactly what we’re buying.