WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) named West Virginia Governor Jim Justice (R) our February 2021 Porker of the Month for wanting to throw away nearly $2 trillion of the taxpayers’ money.
In response to President Biden’s $1.9 trillion budget plan during a February 1, 2021 CNN interview, Gov. Justice stated, “We need to understand that trying to be, per se, fiscally responsible at this point in time, with what we’ve got going on in this country — if we actually throw away some money right now, so what?” His fiscal carelessness is concerning since West Virginia received $1.25 billion under the CARES Act, and still has $688 million (more than half) left to spend. The state has produced a $174 million budget surplus so far for fiscal year 2021, with Gov. Justice calling it “extremely healthy and extremely large” and his state “the envy of the nation.” Yet he doubled down on an unprecedented amount of stimulus spending by saying, “I absolutely believe we need to go big.”
CAGW President Tom Schatz said, “Gov. Justice’s statements are alarming. His fiscal irresponsibility is an insult to every West Virginian. Asking taxpayers across the nation for more money is outrageous when West Virginia has not spent even half of the COVID-19 relief money it already received, and the state has a great economy with a growing budget surplus. Rather than enjoying the fruits of their success, West Virginians will be forced by Gov. Justice’s support of the Biden budget to give money to states that are fiscally irresponsible. No politician should ever flippantly suggest that it is acceptable to throw away someone else’s money. Instead of ‘going big,’ Gov. Justice needs to stop being a hypocrite. Gov. Justice is clearly the rightful winner of this month’s Porker award.”
Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government. For more than two decades, Porker of the Month is a dubious honor given to lawmakers and government officials who have shown a blatant disregard for the interests of taxpayers.
