WASHINGTON (KELO.com) — Iowa U.S. Senator Joni Ernst is doing legislative battle against federal government swag.
You know, free stuff and mascots.
She sponsored a bill that would disallow the use of tax dollars for what she calls “propaganda.”
Ernst says most federal government mascots are not memorable.
Below is a news release and a link to an interview with Ernst on her bill.
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WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA), known as the Senate’s leading foe of wasteful government spending, is continuing her efforts to make Washington squeal.
Ernst put forward a bill—the Stop Wasteful Advertising by the Government Act (SWAG Act)—to prohibit tax dollars from being spent on “mascots” and swag to promote government agencies and programs and to require the disclosure of all propaganda paid for by the public. Last Sunday, Full Measure covered the SWAG Act. Click the video below to watch the segment.
A portion of the interview is below.
Sen. Ernst: “Do we really need a physical mascot out there, you know, going to parades or what? I don’t think that’s appropriate.”
Sen. Ernst: “Overall on mascots the federal government has spent over $250,000, a quarter of a million dollars, on mascots nobody can name or even identify. There are things we should be spending our dollars on, but not this. These mascots aren’t memorable. People don’t know who they are, what they’re trying to teach us they don’t care about them and yet we continue to spend money on them.”
Sen. Ernst: “The federal government has what I call mission creep, and we start to spend dollars on things that aren’t really our mission as a federal government. We have gone through this year, after year, after year. An agency will develop a mascot. Nobody pays attention. The next agency will do that. They’ll start spending dollars in areas they shouldn’t be spending dollars. It’s okay for one agency, so the next gets away with it. We’ve got to stop that. We’ve got to stop the wasteful spending.”
To read and watch the full interview, click here.
