If you ever hear Rep. Darrell Issa say he's a fiscal conservative, just laugh in his face and ask him how can he then explain wasting millions of dollars of taxpayers money on repetitive and wasteful hearings on Benghazi? Not only has he spent millions like a drunken sailor, but they've also put a huge strain on our military.
Repetitious Benghazi Hearings Have Cost Millions
Relentless investigations into the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya that have been tirelessly cheered on by right-wing media have reportedly cost taxpayers and the Pentagon millions of dollars and wasted thousands of hours of personnel time, according to the Associated Press.
Citing a March 11 Pentagon letter, the AP reported how millions in funding have been funneled away from other Department of Defense responsibilities to "repetitive requests for information from about 50 congressional hearings, briefings and interviews," and the Pentagon determined that "[t]he total cost of compliance with Benghazi-related congressional requests sent to the department and other agencies is estimated to be in the millions of dollars." The AP cited former commander of U.S. Africa Command Gen. Carter Ham's experience as an example:
[He] has briefed or testified before congressional panels five times over two years, and yet both the Armed Services Committee and House Oversight and Government Reform has [sic] asked Ham to submit to additional interviews.
Right-wing media have actively campaigned for these unending investigations, even coordinating with House Republicans to skew evidence. On February 6, Fox host Bill O'Reilly demanded that Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) subpoena former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to re-litigate one of Fox's favorite conspiracy theories, and on January 27, host Greta Van Susteren demanded the release of facts already in the public record. Fox has since reached farther to push the Benghazi hoax -- ignoring independent investigations that have turned up no evidence of political scandal.
Conservatives don't care when they spend money on things they think will hurt the Democratic party and liberal values, but just try to extend unemployment benefits or food stamp programs for millions of Americans in need and suddenly they are the kings of the austerity checkbook.
Then there's the matter of Senator Ted Cruz and the 24 million dollars he threw away by leading the charge to shut the federal government down for no good reason other than to grandstand.
Please, make it stop.
