House panel approves ATF fee hike, due to ATF mismanagement.

[bg]

The ATF tells the House it needs more money to keep
employess while the new HQ's cost overruns and goes
off the deep end ! ATF states it may have to lay off
employess. I hate to see anyone lose their job, but
it wouldn't bother me one bit to see a HUGE reduction regarding
the ATF. Wouldn't it be nice if you had a problem building
YOUR house and Joe Blow steps up and says "Don't
worry I'll pay for it. One way or another"..:banghead:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/15/AR2006061501988.html

The debate over the fee comes at a time of mounting budget difficulties for ATF, which is already facing rising costs on a new headquarters building in Washington. Cost overruns on that project attributed to decisions by the agency's director, Carl J. Truscott, and other expenditures are the subject of an investigation by the Justice Department inspector general.

The little guy, you & I, just cannot win..What a racket!

 

[dracphelan]

I hope congress cuts their budget in half. That way, they will have less time to abuse the citizens of this country.

 

[mrmeval]

They'll cut the back office and give the money to the enforcement arm.

 

[DoubleTapDrew]

They'll cut the back office and give the money to the enforcement arm.

I hope not. They should cut the 'coercion & entrapment' department. I'd hate to see NFA transfer times go back to the way they were before they moved into the new HQ.

 

[Frohickey]

Here's to hoping that Congress cuts their budget in half, and allows them to make up their operating budget from the issuance of new NFA stamps.

 

[Art Eatman]

From the article:

"The Bush administration proposed a 2-cent-per-pound fee on explosives to generate $120 million of ATF's proposed $980 million budget in 2007. The Appropriations committee cut the fee back to half a cent -- or $30 million -- and funded the rest of ATF's requested budget from other sources.

But committee staffers concede that even the smaller fee may not be approved by the full House, where many lawmakers believe such charges should be formally authorized by Congress before they are implemented. Lawmakers rejected a similar attempt by the administration last year, and the explosives and mining industries oppose the idea as a de facto tax increase."

The overrun on the building is some $19 million.

At any rate, this is not a THR deal; we're not in the explosives bidness.

Art