Roll out the pork barrel

At $286.4 billion, the highway bill just passed by Congress is the most expensive public works legislation in US history. In addition to funding the interstate highway system and other federal transportation programs, it sets a new record for pork-barrel spending, earmarking $24 billion for a staggering 6,376 pet projects, spread among virtually every congressional district in the land. The enormous bill -- 1,752 pages long -- wasn't made available for public inspection until just before it was brought to a vote, and so, as The New York Times noted, ''it is safe to bet that none of the lawmakers, not even the main authors, had read the entire package."

That didn't stop them from voting for it all but unanimously -- 412 to 8 in the House, 91 to 4 in the Senate.

Huge as the bill was, it wasn't quite huge enough for Representative Don Young of Alaska, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. ''It's not as big as what he'd like," a committee spokesman said, ''but is still a very good bill and will play a major role in addressing transportation and highway needs."

One wonders what more Young could have wanted. The bill funnels upward of $941 million to 119 earmarked projects in Alaska, including $223 million for a mile-long bridge linking an island with 50 residents to a town of 8,000. Another $231 million is earmarked for a new bridge in Anchorage, to be named -- this is specified in the legislation -- Don Young's Way. There is $3 million for a film ''about infrastructure that demonstrates advancements in Alaska, the last frontier." The bill even doffs its cap to Young's wife, Lu: The House formally called it ''The Transportation Equity Act -- a Legacy for Users," or TEA-LU.

Christmas didn't come early just for Alaska, of course. Meander through the bill's endless line items and you find a remarkable variety of ''highway" projects, many of which have nothing to do with highways: Horse riding facilities in Virginia ($600,000). A snowmobile trail in Vermont ($5.9 million). Parking for New York's Harlem Hospital ($8 million). A bicycle and pedestrian trail in Tennessee ($532,000). A daycare center and adjoining park-and-ride facility in Illinois ($1.25 million). Dust control mitigation for rural Arkansas ($3 million). The National Packard Museum in Ohio ($2.75 million). A historical trolley project in Washington ($200,000). And on and on and on.

If Carl Sandburg had lived to see this massive avalanche of bacon greasing its way down Capitol Hill, he would have named Congress, not Chicago, the hog butcher for the world. Or perhaps he would simply have seconded P.J. O'Rourke's timeless observation in *Parliament of Whores:* ''Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys."

Arizona Senator John McCain, one of the four who voted no, called the bill a ''monstrosity" and wondered whether it will ever be possible to restore fiscal sanity to Congress. If ''the combination of war, record deficits, and the largest public debt in the country's history" can't break lawmakers' addiction to overspending, he asked, what can? ''It would seem that this Congress can weather any storm thrown at it, as long as we have our pork life-saver to cling to."

McCain is a Republican, and it might surprise younger readers to learn that spending discipline was once a basic Republican principle. Hard to believe in this era of bloated Republican budgets and the biggest-spending presidential administration in 40 years -- but true. Once upon a time Republicans actually described themselves with pride as fiscal conservatives. That was one of the reasons they opposed the promiscuous use of pork-barrel earmarks, which are typically used to bypass legislative standards, reward political favorites, and assert congressional control over state and local affairs.

Ronald Reagan was such a Republican. He vetoed the 1987 highway bill because it included 121 earmarks and was $10 billion over the line he had drawn in the sand. ''I haven't seen this much lard since I handed out blue ribbons at the Iowa State Fair," he said. President Bush is a great admirer of Reagan's record in foreign affairs. Too bad he shows so little interest in following the Gipper's fiscal lead as well.

When Bush ran for president in 2000, he described his Democratic opponent, Vice President Al Gore, as a reckless high-roller who would unbalance the federal budget. ''If the vice president gets elected," Bush said, ''the era of big government being over is over."

Five years later, what is over is the GOP reputation for fiscal sobriety. Republicans today are simply the other big-government party -- just as capable of squandering public funds, and just as eager to fill barrels with pork, as their fellow-spendthrifts across the aisle.

Aren't you glad we have fiscal conservatives in congress instead of those tax-and-spend democrats?

* $220,000 for one line-item for trolley buses in Puerto Rico
* $366,000 for one line-item for intermodal transportation at the Bronx Zoo
* $835,000 for a second line-item for intermodal transportation at the Bronx Zoo
* $4.2 million for intermodal transportation at the Philadelphia Zoo
* $146,000 for a second line-item for trolley buses in Puerto Rico
* $1.3 million for sidewalk lighting and landscaping around Cedar's-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles
* $1.3 million for a daycare center and park-and-ride facility in Champaign, IL
* $1.7 million for an intermodal park and ride facility at the Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, CA
* $2 million for a third line-item for intermodal transportation at the Bronx Zoo
* $440,000 for a bike path in Powers, OR
$480,000 for pedestrian and bicycle sidewalks, lighting, and handicapped ramps in Miramar, FL
* $200,000 for trails and bike paths on Bird Mountain, TN
* $960,000 for a bike path in Riverhead, NY
* $2.3 million for landscaping enhancements "for aesthetic purposes" along the Ronald Reagan Freeway, CA
* $240,000 for boardwalks at Pismo Beach, San Luis Obispo, CA
* $1.6 million to enhance the Battery Park bikeway perimeter, New York City
* $200,000 for a historical trolley project in Issaquah, WA
* $200,000 for trails, bike paths, and recreational facilities on Black Mountain, TN
* $235,796 for extensions to the Mesabi Trail, Aurora, MN
* $144,000 for paths and trails at the Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens, OH
* $160,000 for a bike path, Petal, MS
* $200,000 for a bike path "network", Evanston, IL
* $2.9 million for a bike path, Delta Ponds, OR
* $240,000 for bike and pedestrian improvements, Windermere, FL
* $2.4 million for bike trail, Smyrna, TN
* $1.2 million for a bike trail, LaVergne, TN
* $800,000 for regional bike routes on existing highways, Austin, TX
* $480,000 to rehabilitate a historic warehouse, Lyons, NY
* $320,000 for a bike path from San Luis Obispo to Avila Beach, CA
* $280,000 for a bike path, Fairview Park, OH
* $600,000 for horse-riding trails, Jefferson National Forest, VA
* $2 million for a bike trail, Cookeville, TN
* $2 million for an intermodal bikeway, Independence, OH
* $640,000 for bike, pedestrian and other improvements at Georgia Veterans Memorial Park
* $1.2 million for pedestrian bicycle access project, Newark NJ
* $1.2 million for a bike path, East Long-meadow Redstone, MA
* $8 million for the Harlem Hospital parking facility
* $1.8 million for a bike path, Portage, WI
* $2.6 million for pedestrian walkway and bikeway improvements along the NYC Greenway System in Coney Island, NY
* $400,000 for a bike path in Dunkirk, NY
* $532,000 for a bike and pedestrian trail, Gallatin, TN

Costlier-than-Advertised Highway Bill Deserves Bush’s Veto, Six Citizen Groups Say

(Alexandria, VA) – Despite his announced intention to sign the mammoth $286.5 billion highway bill into law, President Bush still has plenty of reasons to change his mind and veto the legislation, according to a letter from six prominent citizen groups sent to the White House today. The non-partisan National Taxpayers Union (NTU) and Taxpayers for Common Sense Action organized the statement.

“Despite your stated position on the issue, Congress used budget gimmicks to break the $283.9 billion budget ceiling you set by approximately $11 billion,” the letter to Bush noted. “Your veto will send the message that Congress must rein in its profligate spending habits ….”

The list of signatories on the statement reads like a virtual “who’s who” of fiscal watchdog organizations. Leaders with the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste, the Club for Growth, Americans for Prosperity, and FreedomWorks joined with officials from Taxpayers for Common Sense Action and NTU on the letter.

The signers pointed out that Congress’s decision to exceed the President’s recommended funding level by $2.5 billion was “reason alone” for a veto. However, they cited several other arguments against signing the legislation:

Congress included an $8.5 billion rescission of past budget authority that conveniently takes effect on September 30, 2009 – the last day the bill remains in force. Combined with the extra $2.5 billion Congress approved, this could have the effect of breaking Bush’s budget ceiling by $11 billion for virtually the entire life of the proposed law. “By pushing off the rescission until the very end of the bill, it is likely that supporters of the legislation are simply waiting for a future Congress and Administration to fill this funding hole,” the signatories observed.
The bill is packed with nearly 6,500 member-requested projects amounting to more than $24 billion (almost nine percent of the total spending). “President Reagan vetoed a transportation bill in 1987 because there were 152 such earmarks,” the letter stated.
Signing the transportation bill as is would undermine the President’s expressed goal of halving the deficit by 2009, especially in light of the rescission tactic.

While President Bush described the transportation bill yesterday as “fiscally responsible,” the signatories contend that much more work needs to be done on the legislation before it is worthy of such a term. “H.R. 3 is full of wasteful spending and uses budget gimmicks that hide the true cost to taxpayers,” the letter concluded. "We urge you to veto it, so Congress can craft a [genuinely] fiscally responsible transportation bill.”

NTU is a non-profit citizen group working for lower taxes and smaller government at all levels. Note: The letter to President Bush, along with numerous commentaries and studies on transportation policy, is available online at www.ntu.org.

Related Links:

For the Letter to President Bush Click Here

CCAGW Urges President Bush to Veto Highway Bill

Watchdog Groups Expose Budget-Busting Gimmickry

(Washington, D.C.) - On behalf of its more than one million members and supporters, the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) joined five prominent government watchdogs in sending a letter to President Bush to veto H.R. 3, the $286.5 billion Transportation Equity Act.

“President Bush had already compromised by raising his spending limit from $256 billion to $284 billion,” CCAGW President Tom Schatz said. “Using budget gimmickry to raise the real cost to $295 billion makes a mockery of the President’s call for fiscal restraint.”

CCAGW, Taxpayers for Common Sense Action Group, National Taxpayers Union, the Club for Growth, Americans for Prosperity, and FreedomWorks all agreed in their letter to President Bush that exceeding the budget ceiling by $2.5 billion was “reason alone” for a veto. The groups cited several other reasons for opposing the legislation:

H.R. 3 includes an $8.5 billion rescission of past budget authority that takes effect on September 30, 2009, the last day the bill remains in force, which is a reduction in spending that is not likely to occur. Added to the $2.5 billion Congress approved above the President’s “ceiling” of $284 billion, this would break the President’s spending limit by $11 billion.
There are nearly 6,500 pork-barrel projects stuffed into the bill by members of Congress that total more than $24 billion, or nearly 9 percent of the total spending.
The President’s expressed goal of halving the deficit by 2009 would be subverted if he signed the bill, especially in light of the rescission shenanigans.

“Unbelievably, President Bush has described this transportation bill as ‘fiscally responsible,’ ” Schatz said. “A bill with such waste and budget gimmickry is not deserving of such a term and should be vetoed.”

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, the nation’s largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.

HIGHWAY ROBBERY

"A monstrosity. That's what John McCain called the pork-laden $286 billion transportation bill President Bush signed into law on Wednesday. . . .

Among the highlights: 'Don Young's Way,' a $230 million bridge in Alaska named for the lawmaker who chairs the House Transportation Committee; the 'Highway to Nowhere,' an $18.75 million bridge connecting Ketchikan, Alaska, to the Island of Gravina, population 50;

the 'Magnetic Levitation Transportation System' connecting Las Vegas to Primm, Nev., for $20 million; $3 million for dust control along rural roads in Arkansas; $1.6 million for Connecticut's Blue Ridge Music Center; $1 million for a pedestrian waterfront walkway in Oswego, N.Y.

"...It's easy and appropriate to blame a profligate Congress, but the administration is responsible, too. By now it's well known that the bill thrice exceeded limits Mr. Bush purported to set. First the president threatened to veto any bill over $250 billion. Then he changed the limit to $270 billion. Finally, last month, the White House signaled it could live with a $284 billion bill -- not that Congress paid much attention.

The final bill exceeded that by $2 billion. The president's veto power remained unused through all this. That's the "responsibility era" he promised."

- Washington Times editorial, 8/12/05

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