Our president is asking Congress for less than 1 percent of the federal budget to ensure security on our southern border. However, the Democrats have decided to hold federal workers hostage during the negotiations to deny the president his sworn duty to protect this nation.

In an October 2009 article, Brian Riedl, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, cited 50 examples of wasted money by those who would put the security of our nation in jeopardy for a political win. Here are just a few examples:

• The federal government made at least $72 billion in improper payments in 2008.

• Washington spends $92 billion on corporate welfare (excluding the Troubled Asset Relief Program) versus $71 billion on homeland security.

• Washington spends $25 billion annually maintaining unused or vacant federal properties. • Government auditors spent five years examining all federal programs and found that 22 percent of them — costing taxpayers a total of $123 billion annually — fail to show any positive impact on the populations they serve.

Nancy Pelosi calls the construction of a wall on the southern border “immoral.” What I would say to Pelosi is the waste of our hard-earned tax money in this manner is the most immoral thing our government has imposed on us.

Ed Liberatore

Turtle Creek

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