Revenue forgone appropriation advances, with strings attached
For a little comic relief, check out the language in HR 5576, an omnibus appropriations bill that contains, among many other things, the USPS payment for providing free mailing services for the blind. The House reached a unanimous consent agreement on Tuesday that provides for no further general debate on the bill. Now keep in mind that this appropriation isn’t a gift to the PO- it’s a partial repayment, in arrears, for services the USPS is required to provide for free.
Congress is apparently incapable of simply paying its tab and getting on with things, though- it feels the need to attach some strings before writing the check. There are several, but the best is saved for last: “Provided further, That none of the funds provided in this Act shall be used to consolidate or close small rural and other small post offices in fiscal year 2007.”
Which I guess means we can close as many big post offices as we like?
June 19th, 2006 12:02
“Forgone.” What does that mean? I can’t find it in the dictionary. Did you mean “foregone?”
June 20th, 2006 08:29
Look harder- from the American Heritage Dictionary Fourth Edition:
forgo
TRANSITIVE VERB: Inflected forms: for·went (-wnt), for·gone (-gôn, -gn), for·go·ing, for·goes
To abstain from; relinquish: unwilling to forgo dessert.
ETYMOLOGY: Middle English forgon, from Old English forgn, go away, forgo : for-, for- + gn, to go; see gh- in Appendix I.
OTHER FORMS: for·goer —NOUN
http://www.bartleby.com/61/20/F0262000.html
July 6th, 2006 17:51
Why should the blind get free mail when deaf people have to pay full price? What about paraplegics? Ray Charles gets free mailing but Christopher Reeve had to pony up a stamp? Make all debilitating handicapped people get free mail.