Walter Williams, insightful as always, writes in "Not yours to give" about using public funds for charitable causes. No matter how laudable, it is not the role of the government to give this money, nor is it efficient. Rather than spending this money in this way, return it to us, and we, who are consistently proven some of the most generous people on earth, can then give more of our time and money directly, without the overhead of IRS, the rest of the Treasury (is that a second DOT, or is it the Treasury Department, or is it part of some other Department?), Congress, or any other civil servant to drain some percentage out. Interestingly, he quotes a number of public officials from our history who have agreed: Tennessee Rep. Col. Davy Crockett, President Grover Cleveland, President Franklin Pierce, Virginia Rep. William Giles, and President James Madison all come down against public charity.
