Proxmire Assails Tax Ante for Souvenir Cards

Special playing cards aboard Air Force 2, Vice President George Bush’s plane, are given away as souvenirs at a cost to taxpayers of about $10,000 a year, Sen. William Proxmire (D-Wis.) charged Sunday.

“I’ve seen a lot of card tricks, but this one beats them all,” Proxmire said in awarding the Air Force his “Golden Fleece” award, which he said should be shared with the Executive Office of the President for requesting the cards. Proxmire awards the “Golden Fleece” each month for the “most wasteful, ridiculous or ironic use” of taxpayers’ money.

Proxmire said that the cost for the cards since 1981, the first time records were kept on them, has been $59,000, but that the Air Force has been providing the souvenirs for more than 20 years.