WP: Some in GOP Regretting Pork-Stuffed Highway Bill
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Comments and thoughts are in-line with the original article. Please read entire original article to get complete story, rather than just the snippets I've included and commented about.
From The Washington Post. Headline is linked. Please see original article for complete story.
Some in GOP Regretting Pork-Stuffed Highway Bill
By Shailagh Murray
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 5, 2005; Page A01
The highway bill seemed like such a good idea when it sailed through Congress this summer. STOP RIGHT THERE!! It did not seem that reasonable, or that much like a good idea. It seemed very early on, and to this day, to be a pork-laden bill that includes projects that are far from necessary, and almost wholy undefensible, yet remain there because of the political clout of some individuals that should be more than just ashamed of themselves. They should be impeached for their lack of fiscal restraint. Continuing... But now Republicans who assembled the record spending package are suffering buyer's remorse.
Breaking again for a second here... Here comes a very generalistic accounting of the type of pork included in the bill. Others (and myself) have blogged in the past on the obscene levels, but the following serves as a reminder.
The $286 billion legislation was stuffed with 6,000 pet projects for lawmakers' districts, including what critics denounce as a $223 million "Bridge to Nowhere" that would replace a 7-minute ferry ride in a sparsely populated area of Alaska. Usually members of Congress cannot wait to rush home and brag about such bounty -- a staggering number of parking lots, bus depots, bike paths and new interchanges for just about every congressional district in the country that added $24 billion to the overall cost of maintaining the nation's highways and bridges in the coming years.
{ snip }
Conservative groups, government watchdogs and ordinary folks around the country are so offended by the size of the legislation -- signed into law by Bush in early August -- that efforts are underway in the House and the Senate to rescind or reallocate a portion of its funds.
{ snip }
Lawmakers say voters are stopping them back home to ask whether the "Bridge to Nowhere" is a joke or whether it actually exists. It is no joke. The project, championed by Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), would link tiny Ketchikan, with a population of 8,900, with its airport on Gravina Island -- population 50.
Former House majority leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), who was instrumental in shaping the highway bill in the House, apologized for its excesses during an appearance on Thursday before the Heritage Foundation.
{ snip }
The Senate has already considered one proposal to scale back the legislation -- an amendment offered by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) to cut funding for some of the projects special-ordered by Alaskan lawmakers and use the money saved to rebuild the Interstate 10 bridge over Lake Pontchartrain outside New Orleans. The I-10 bridge, a major transportation corridor, was shattered during the Katrina storm surge.
Coburn's bid failed, but it gained widespread attention and attracted 15 Senate "yes" votes, a landslide, considering the political clout of Stevens, a former chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and a formidable force in Congress. In a display of outrage, Stevens threatened to resign from the Senate if Coburn's measure succeeded.
STOP!!!! (again). So Stevens was mad that his pet project was going to be cut?! Mad enough to threaten to quit!? Damnit! While I'd hate to see the balance of power in the Senate changed because a GOP member was lost, I'd have to say that losing Stevens would not be a great loss. The next paragraph explains part of my reasoning for that thought. Of course if he is gonna go, I would hope he takes the master of pork-barrel spending, one Robert "KKK" Byrd (aka "Sheets") along with him. If we could get rid of both of them at the same time (perhaps one would quit in sympathetic protest along with the other?!?!), we might get back onto the road to fiscal responsibility.
Continuing....
Stevens and other Alaska lawmakers have been masterful at steering federal aid to their thinly populated state. According to a tally by Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan budget watchdog group, Alaska received $1 billion for 120 special projects. In total funding, it ranks third, behind California and Illinois.
The highway bill has long been a reliable source of pork-barrel spending, and it has been used by Republican and Democratic leaders to reward or punish rank-and-file members. President Ronald Reagan once vetoed a highway bill because it contained 152 pet projects. Despite the pork inflation, Bush had no complaints about the current package when he signed it on Aug. 10. "This bill upgrades our transportation infrastructure," he declared. "And it accomplishes goals in a fiscally responsible way."
That was before Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast, leaving tens of thousands homeless and requiring billions of dollars in unanticipated rebuilding costs. Trying to live within a tight budget, Republican leaders in the House and the Senate are in the process of pushing through politically difficult cuts in Medicaid, Medicare, food stamps, farm subsidies and student loans.
... more at original article
And finishing up the commentary -- a solid "yupppppp!" Having costs in the neighborhood of $50 - $75 billion in disaster relief just for Hurricane ravaged southern states means cuts are coming out of various budgets. The Highway bill provides plenty of places to make a good start. Take that $24 billion out, and you've at least lessened the damage to other social spending, and kept the GOP from looking like cold, heartless bastards that will take food and medicine out of the mouths and cupboards of the poor and elderly.
Perhaps Senator Stevens would reconsider his bridge and decide that it might best be built in the longer term future, rather than the immediate future, when funds are scarce and the need is not so great. And if he truly doesn't want to play nice, then send his butt packin'. He'd have a helluva time getting more pork for his home state if he did quit, and that leads me to believe hollow threats are the ones best to "call."
From The Washington Post. Headline is linked. Please see original article for complete story.
Some in GOP Regretting Pork-Stuffed Highway Bill
By Shailagh Murray
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 5, 2005; Page A01
The highway bill seemed like such a good idea when it sailed through Congress this summer. STOP RIGHT THERE!! It did not seem that reasonable, or that much like a good idea. It seemed very early on, and to this day, to be a pork-laden bill that includes projects that are far from necessary, and almost wholy undefensible, yet remain there because of the political clout of some individuals that should be more than just ashamed of themselves. They should be impeached for their lack of fiscal restraint. Continuing... But now Republicans who assembled the record spending package are suffering buyer's remorse.
Breaking again for a second here... Here comes a very generalistic accounting of the type of pork included in the bill. Others (and myself) have blogged in the past on the obscene levels, but the following serves as a reminder.
The $286 billion legislation was stuffed with 6,000 pet projects for lawmakers' districts, including what critics denounce as a $223 million "Bridge to Nowhere" that would replace a 7-minute ferry ride in a sparsely populated area of Alaska. Usually members of Congress cannot wait to rush home and brag about such bounty -- a staggering number of parking lots, bus depots, bike paths and new interchanges for just about every congressional district in the country that added $24 billion to the overall cost of maintaining the nation's highways and bridges in the coming years.
{ snip }
Conservative groups, government watchdogs and ordinary folks around the country are so offended by the size of the legislation -- signed into law by Bush in early August -- that efforts are underway in the House and the Senate to rescind or reallocate a portion of its funds.
{ snip }
Lawmakers say voters are stopping them back home to ask whether the "Bridge to Nowhere" is a joke or whether it actually exists. It is no joke. The project, championed by Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), would link tiny Ketchikan, with a population of 8,900, with its airport on Gravina Island -- population 50.
Former House majority leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), who was instrumental in shaping the highway bill in the House, apologized for its excesses during an appearance on Thursday before the Heritage Foundation.
{ snip }
The Senate has already considered one proposal to scale back the legislation -- an amendment offered by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) to cut funding for some of the projects special-ordered by Alaskan lawmakers and use the money saved to rebuild the Interstate 10 bridge over Lake Pontchartrain outside New Orleans. The I-10 bridge, a major transportation corridor, was shattered during the Katrina storm surge.
Coburn's bid failed, but it gained widespread attention and attracted 15 Senate "yes" votes, a landslide, considering the political clout of Stevens, a former chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and a formidable force in Congress. In a display of outrage, Stevens threatened to resign from the Senate if Coburn's measure succeeded.
STOP!!!! (again). So Stevens was mad that his pet project was going to be cut?! Mad enough to threaten to quit!? Damnit! While I'd hate to see the balance of power in the Senate changed because a GOP member was lost, I'd have to say that losing Stevens would not be a great loss. The next paragraph explains part of my reasoning for that thought. Of course if he is gonna go, I would hope he takes the master of pork-barrel spending, one Robert "KKK" Byrd (aka "Sheets") along with him. If we could get rid of both of them at the same time (perhaps one would quit in sympathetic protest along with the other?!?!), we might get back onto the road to fiscal responsibility.
Continuing....
Stevens and other Alaska lawmakers have been masterful at steering federal aid to their thinly populated state. According to a tally by Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan budget watchdog group, Alaska received $1 billion for 120 special projects. In total funding, it ranks third, behind California and Illinois.
The highway bill has long been a reliable source of pork-barrel spending, and it has been used by Republican and Democratic leaders to reward or punish rank-and-file members. President Ronald Reagan once vetoed a highway bill because it contained 152 pet projects. Despite the pork inflation, Bush had no complaints about the current package when he signed it on Aug. 10. "This bill upgrades our transportation infrastructure," he declared. "And it accomplishes goals in a fiscally responsible way."
That was before Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast, leaving tens of thousands homeless and requiring billions of dollars in unanticipated rebuilding costs. Trying to live within a tight budget, Republican leaders in the House and the Senate are in the process of pushing through politically difficult cuts in Medicaid, Medicare, food stamps, farm subsidies and student loans.
... more at original article
And finishing up the commentary -- a solid "yupppppp!" Having costs in the neighborhood of $50 - $75 billion in disaster relief just for Hurricane ravaged southern states means cuts are coming out of various budgets. The Highway bill provides plenty of places to make a good start. Take that $24 billion out, and you've at least lessened the damage to other social spending, and kept the GOP from looking like cold, heartless bastards that will take food and medicine out of the mouths and cupboards of the poor and elderly.
Perhaps Senator Stevens would reconsider his bridge and decide that it might best be built in the longer term future, rather than the immediate future, when funds are scarce and the need is not so great. And if he truly doesn't want to play nice, then send his butt packin'. He'd have a helluva time getting more pork for his home state if he did quit, and that leads me to believe hollow threats are the ones best to "call."