Billy “wasn’t sure where he might come down on the proposal" to end airport subsidy in Joplin.

From the Erstwhile Conservative:

Closer to home, Ozark Billy Long made the local paper. The front page of Sunday’s Joplin Globe prominently featured an article on the possible elimination of a federal program that subsidizes airline service to about 150 cities around the country, including here in Joplin. Whoops! When we sent Ozark Billy to Washington to shrink the government, we didn’t mean shrink the part of the government that makes life easier for business travelers and other local bigwigs who can afford to pay the expensive fares to fly out of Joplin!

Our airport manager and city officials, according to the paper, say the subsidized service is “a vital link to economic development.” Yeah, that’s what they all say. These officials will, of course, lobby our legislators to keep the subsidy in place.

As for Ozark Billy, the Globe points out that he is a member of the House Republican Study Committee, a radical bunch of tea partiers that has already proposed killing the subsidy program, which will pay American Eagle nearly $3 million annually for service to Dallas twice a day.

But the paper reported that Ozark Billy “wasn’t sure where he might come down on the proposal.” Ah…It’s so easy to talk all that smack about cutting government spending, as long as it is spending on the poor or the working class. Cut! Cut! Cut! says our congressman. But when it involves cutting subsidies for business travelers and wealthy jetsetters, it gets a little harder for some Republicans.

Here's what Billy had to say to the Joplin Globe on July 10,2010:

Americans are fed up with federal programs that never end. Ronald Reagan said the closest thing to eternal life is a government bureau. I favor looking at all federal programs and assessing whether or not they work or if they are needed anymore. I would work to end Visa Lottery that literally allows people from countries on the terrorist watch list to get a visa with a minimal background check, if their number is pulled in the lottery. We also have over 2 million federal employees. We need to put the federal government on a diet and reduce its size.

We're still waiting, Billy.