Watch Out for Budget Gimmicks–Congress Likes Them

Congress uses gimmicks in the federal budget to fool the public.  Congress labels ordinary expenses as “emergency” spending, overstates project costs then shifts the excess elsewhere, increases federal salaries after promising pay freezes, and shifts expenditure dates in order to claim money savings or offsets. In a statement released October 2011, Sen. Olympia Snowe, (R-ME),…