Our fervently anti-socialist congressional reps get hopping mad when federal money to Rapid City is

[TexasTowelie]

Our fervently anti-socialist congressional reps get hopping mad when federal money to Rapid City is threatened.


The news that a congressional committee just recommended that the White House Office of Management and Budget should revise the population threshold for designating a community a Metropolitan Statistical Area didn’t sit very well with our vocally anti-socialist Sens. Thune and Rounds and Rep. Johnson. The three of them, who have long made political capital out of their purported hatred of socialism didn’t like that news one little bit, mainly because it targets Rapid City as one of the cities (among 144 nationwide) affected by the change. According to anti-socialist Thune, this would be a very bad thing because “stripping the city of its MSA designation would potentially affect eligibility for funding through certain federal programs.” Our congressional trio signed on to a letter urging OMB to reject the proposal.

As it is now, to qualify as an MSA, a community needs a population of at least 50,000, which Rapid City exceeds by about 30,000. If the committee’s recommendations are adopted by OMB, the population threshold goes to 100,000, leaving Rapid City in the relative cold of being designated a Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Most Rapid Citians I know don’t think much of the idea, but unlike our congressional threesome, we don’t say bad things about socialism while holding our hands out to receive the financial largesse provided to this state by taxpayers around the country.

As to the proposal itself, there doesn’t seem to be any explanation for the committee’s recommendations, just requests for public comments. It would take some detailed analysis to know which programs and grants are likely to be affected by the change, or even if they’re likely to be affected at all. Some numbers from authoritative sources would be most welcome.

Read more: https://www.sdstandardnow.com/home/our-fervently-anti-socialist-congressional-reps-sure-do-get-hopping-mad-when-the-flow-of-federal-money-to-rapid-city-is-threatened