Posted on 11/24/2004 8:31:54 AM PST by nj26
What was a lie? I never said they had Amtrak in their district. If they want to advocate funding for transportation spending outside their district at the expense of their local projects, well again that's their problem.
"What was a lie? I never said they had Amtrak in their district. If they want to advocate funding for transportation spending outside their district at the expense of their local projects, well again that's their problem."
So if a Republican signs a letter supporting Amtrak, all transportation funding should be cut for their district, which doesn't have Amtrak. At the same time, we should provide full funding to the district of anybody that didn't bother to sign the letter, including districts represented by Democrats and districts that actually benefit from Amtrak.
That is so illogical in so many ways. If you want to fund Amtrak out of road money, cut funds from the districts with Amtrak.
And it's a sure way to lose some seats in the Northeast. Read the other article that I posted about pork-barrel spending. Rep. Istook didn't manage to cut all sorts of pork barrel spending proposed by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (up for reelection in 2006) and dozens of other Democrats.
I'll be sure to post the inevitable articles tomorrow in the Newark Star Ledger, Philadelphia Inquirer, and NY Times.
Like I said, nothing like shooting yourself in the foot to make a point. I just sense that Istook has a real tin ear for politics.
So a rep who doesn't want to fund Amtrak but has it in his district gets his transportation projects cut?
Those reps advocated spending $1.8 BILLION on Amtrak. BILLION. If they want that extra 1.8 BILLION DOLLARS of transportation spending they can jolly well take it out of their allotment, rather than punish the reps who didn't want the spending.
The pork you mentioned totalled less than $11 MILLION. There's no comparison.
What was a lie? You never answered that.
Amtrak should be defunded and killed once and for all. The states in the Northeast on the Bos-Wash corridor should fund passenger trains along the mainline and the commuter spurs. This is feasible, since this line makes money and carries a huge number of passengers.
No taxpayer dollars should be funding mostly empty trains running across red states.
The use of this word in connection with the author of a provision stripping tax returns of confidentiality must involve some definition with which I have not been familiar.
The Amtrak train I was supposed to take to Oakland (from Fresno) last Thursday was cancelled because a young man laid his head on the tracks to commit suicide. Poor kid.
Istook is a nutcase. And, apparently, very vengeful.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.