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Politics : To be a Liberal,you have to believe that..... -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jlallen who wrote (3386)	9/22/1999 12:48:00 AM
From: greenspirit	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 6418

To be a liberal you have to believe that... We spend money so wisely in Washington today, when we reduce the future increases in funding, the only thing that happens is that children starve and the elderly are forced to eat dog food. Article.... GAO Says Three Clinton Trips Cost $72.1 Million WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The government watchdog agency, the General Accounting Office, said Tuesday that three overseas trips by President Clinton cost taxpayers $72.1 million triggering protests from some Republicans. A draft GAO report said Clinton's trip to Africa cost $42.8 million, a visit to Chile cost $10.5 million and his trip to China cost $18.8 million. All the trips occurred in 1998. Of particular notice to the three Republican senators who commissioned the study Larry Craig of Idaho, Jeff Sessions of Alabama and Craig Thomas of Wyoming was the number of travelers that either worked on the advance team for the African trip or went along with the president on it. The GAO report said that federal agencies represented on the trip paid for about 1,300 people to travel to Africa as either part of the advance team, part of the president's delegation or to provide other support. Clinton visited six African countries. The dollar figures did not include the cost of Secret Service expenses, which are classified. ``The findings of this draft study are extremely troubling to me,' Sessions said. ``I don't know how we can justify this number of travelers. This is not the kind of apparent waste that we need when spending is tight. Presidential travel is important, and I am not suggesting that these trips should not have been taken. I am, however, saying that these expenses must be looked at closely so we can eliminate waste in the future,' he said. The report said the largest of the costs of presidential travel examined were the operating expenses of the president's aircraft and other military passenger and cargo aircraft; travel expenses, including lodging for the travelers; and telecommunications, vehicle and other equipment rentals. It said that advance trips consumed a lot of cash. Eight separate teams from the State Department, White House, Secret Service and/or the Defense Department made advance trips to Beijing, X'ian, Shanghai, Guilin and Hong Kong ahead of Clinton's trip to China in June 1998. ``This president has not only traveled excessively, he's traveled to a level that is almost abusive of the right and the privilege and responsibility,' Sen. Craig said. White House spokesman Joe Lockhart, commenting in New York, where Clinton traveled to speak to the U.N. General Assembly, said, ``There is a high cost of providing physical security to the president when he's overseas, and providing secure communications.' ``We are the lone remaining superpower in the world. The president needs the ability to handle any crisis, anytime, anywhere. That comes at a cost,' he said. He also said the ``trips more than pay for themselves' by generating increased exports of U.S. goods and advancing U.S. interests in promoting democracy and human rights. Lockhart called Thomas and Craig ``two of the most prolific foreign travelers in the Senate' and said they should know 'this is a new globalized world where our interests are not dictated by what's going on at home, it's dictated by what's going on around the world.' Will Hart, spokesman for Craig, said the final report should be completed by next month and would be turned over to relevant committees for any follow-up.