Today, Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist sent a letter to Rep. Mike Pompeo in support of his bill H.R. 3090, the Eliminate the EDA Act. By shuttering the EDA, the bill would close down an avenue for permanent federal "stimulus".  From our letter:

"We write to encourage support of your bill, H.R. 3090, the EDA Elimination Act. The Act would end the Economic Development Administration, which has been used as a vehicle for earmarks and wasteful “stimulus” spending. The EDA Elimination Act is an essential step to preventing government interference in the free market and to stop wasteful spending.

Created in 1965 and charged with distributing money to economically imperiled areas, the agency quickly widened its scope, becoming a vehicle for extensive waste and fraud. The Reauthorization for the EDA introduced in the Senate would give the EDA en extra $200 million annually and funnel more than $1.5 billion to the agency over the next four years. 

In essence, the EDA is a codified “stimulus” agency, delivering taxpayer dollars to parochial projects under the guise of job creation. The last few years of federal “stimulus” and rampant unemployment have shown this approach to economic well-being to be utterly flawed. In fact, the most recent jobs report shows the United States has now suffered 32 months of unemployment above 8 percent, the rate the White House promised the “stimulus” would prevent."

ATR has previously called upon the Senate to vote against cloture for S. 782, the Economic Development Revitalization Act of 2011, which would reauthorize the EDA for another year, doling out billions for a wasteful “stimulus” agency. (link to the post)

PDF of Letter