(Editorial - Graphic Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

The story is becoming too familiar.

Lawmakers who support spending cuts, then call for their reversal. Lawmakers who want to eliminate fraud, waste and abuse, just not in the program that is politically beneficial to them.

U.S. Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va., has joined several Senate colleagues in a letter that seeks the disbursement of already-approved Community Development Financial Institutions funds.

To be fair, some of the federal actions seem designed to force elected officials to beg for the help they pledged to their constituents. In this case, $324 million from the fund was approved for more than 1,400 such institutions around the country in the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act of 2025.

” … The CDFI Fund has proven critical to the CDFI sector’s success and has met the mission to create a public-private partnership to promote access to capital in our most underserved rural and urban communities,” the letter reads. “Each year, CDFIs leverage federal dollars from the CDFI Fund with private-sector investment to boost small business formation, increase housing production, and deliver new capital to America’s forgotten communities.”

In fact, according to a news release from Justice, the program has “a long track record of turning federal dollars into billions in private investment for small businesses, affordable housing and economic development.”

Twenty-six senators that include Justice and Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D, N.Y., and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J. have signed on to the letter. (Sens. Jon Husted and Bernie Moreno, both R-Ohio, are notably missing.) The signers say “Delay in the obligation of funds hinders critical projects in our states and could constrain the flow of capital to businesses and consumers who need it most.”

But Justice goes further, saying “In West Virginia, our small businesses and community lenders are ready to put these funds to work. These funds have been approved for months, and every day they sit unused is a missed opportunity for communities that need them most. It’s time to cut the red tape and get this money out the door to support small businesses, create jobs, and strengthen our local economies.”

It is a case of the federal decision-making that was supposed to cut red tape and make the country a better steward of taxpayers’ money being called out as “red tape” by the politicians now feeling the sting.

The gamesmanship has got to end. If the federal government is simply amusing itself by finding out what it takes to make elected officials squawk on behalf of their constituents, we’ve had enough. And we’ve had enough of those elected officials who say they want to cut reckless spending, then ask for a little reckless spending to come their way so they can be the conquering heroes at home.

Because the reality likely is somewhere in the middle, all we voters and taxpayers can do is make it this clear: No matter what government level you’re on, city, county, state or federal levels, we voted you into office and we expect you to ensure our money is being used responsibly and to serve us rather than yourselves. The two ideas are not mutually exclusive.