Posted on 11/21/2005 5:03:54 AM PST by yoe
Congress limped out of town last week for its Thanksgiving recess, and just in the nick of time. With its Iraq duck-and-cover, the failure to extend expiring tax cuts, and the refusal to control spending, the Members were doing more damage to the republic every day they stayed around.
Amid the carnage, however, there was one small triumph last week: Senate Appropriations powerhouse Ted Stevens decided to pull funding for the infamous $320 million "Bridge to Nowhere" in his home state of Alaska. For those joining this story in progress, the proposed project would have connected Ketchikan, Alaska with remote Gravina Island (population 50).
[snip] The bridge had become the poster child for Republican fiscal extravagance and the object of justified ridicule across the political spectrum. Ron Utt, fiscal analyst at the Heritage Foundation, notes that the construction costs were so enormous that it would have been cheaper for taxpayers to purchase a yacht for every Gravina family than to build the bridge. One recent poll found that more Americans know about the Bridge to Nowhere than know who their local Congressman is. Which, given Congress's 30% approval rating, is probably the way most Members prefer it these days.
[snip] The one hero of this episode is Senator Tom Coburn (R., Okla.), who sponsored an amendment to block funding for the bridge and use the money to repair vital bridges on the Gulf Coast destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Mr. Stevens erupted on the Senate floor and threatened to quit if the measure passed. The vote failed. However, Mr. Stevens threw in the towel last Tuesday, announcing that he was taking this "drastic action" because his state had been "so unfairly maligned in the national press" in recent weeks.
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
Prior to "limping out of town" our Congress-critters on both sides of the aisle stood `shoulder-to-shoulder' in allowing their latest COLA pay-raise (3-4K) to take effect.
Now why didn't I think of that: just call payroll and tell them to jack-up my salary?
As I implied in my post, if they are paying one billion dollars into the federal gas tax pool, then they / you should get it back, but Texas gets 80 percent of what we pay in so that smaller states can share in thansportation growth.
Congress is not in session? That is good news for a Monday morning. Why don't they take six months off?
I hope you didn't bet much, becuase you lose. I take cash, checks, or PayPal. ;-)
The balance figures for 1990-1999 (the most recent ones I've found so far) are on page 11 of this document.
Yes, and these crooks are custodians and managers of our money. How did we get to here? If we could put them in jail, which we can't, this robbery would stop quite fast.
If a bank manager did the same with his cusomers money, he would be doing serious jail time.
You're exactly right - the Ketchican International Airport is located on Gravina Island, something that has never been pointed out in all the articles I've seen about this issue, until the on in PARADE Magazine in the weekend newspaper a couple of weeks ago.
This makes the bridge project seem a bit less ridiculous than it was being made out to be. Given the leftist domination of the media anxious for any chance to slam Republicans it should come as no surprise that they were making Gravina Island out to be practically-uninhabited wilderness.
I guess sice polls showed high name recognition for the "bridge to nowhere" they figured they had to kill that project specifically just to save face. They don't really care about the money.
The money doesn't become holy by sending it to Washington to have it baptized in the waters of the Potomac before sending it back to the states. It's the same cash, except that some gets skimmed off to pay for some DoT bureaucrats and a greater amount gets sent to the states of powerful Congressmen and less to others. Just let the states handle their own roads. If Alaska wants a bridge, then Alaska can pay for it. If Massachusetts wants a $15 billion tunnel, then they can pay for it.
Just the opposite is true. According to the Tax Foundation, Alaska get a $1.69 back in Federal spending for every dollar of Federal taxes paid. That makes it number 2 in the pork parade after New Mexico.
Also consider that the State of Alaska has very low taxes and uses the oil revenue it gets to give each citizen a check every year. If this bridge is so important, the State of Alaska could use it's oil revenues to pay for it.
How I wish!!!
These congresscrooks need to do serious jail time.
On page six it list area of Federal Receipts by Source. Mineral Royalties and Lease Sales are not listed. If you want more input to the Federal Treasury from Alaska, let us develop our resources instead of trying to make us the nation's park. $2.4 Billion would come from the ANWR coast plain lease sales. That is income before a single barrel of oil is produced. Lots of dollars would come after that.
This document does not show that it includes Mineral Royalties or Lease Sales in its numbers.
I also want to when Anadarko Petroleum and our many other Oil producers pay the taxes on their "record" profits, are they "credited" where their headquarter are (Texas) or where the oil is produced. I know the answer, but it appears you do not.
Also include companies like Princess, Carnival, Alaska Airlines and many other generating taxes paid elsewhere.
That's small potatoes in the overall scheme of Federal revenues, maybe $5 - 10 billion a year for the entire country not just Alaska, but believe what you want. Fact is, Alaska has always been a porker, not a porkee, and it's citizens do not even pay state taxes like citizens of the other 49 states.
Of the royalities paid by the oil & gas industries in Alaska, 90% goes to the state with 10% going to the Feds and the citizens of Alaska get a chack for around $1000 each from the state each year for what's left over and they want you to pay for their bridge.
Used to live in Ketchikan right above the tunnel. (If you lived there, you'd understand the reference.) Ketchikan is built on the side of a cliff. Literally. Gravina Island is undeveloped flat land - lots of it - just across Tongass Narrows. A decent bridge would really help the community's economy develop. I blame our imperial delegation for overreach in blowing the chance to develop the town. Hell, a drawbridge could have done the job. Even a causeway. A toll ferry. The reason the island has 50 people is because it is still undeveloped. Give people a way to go there and it will have many more people. Building a multibillion dollar bridge to get there is a little much - in the same way as dozens of costly projects like Boston's "big dig", etc.
I've never been to Alaska, but I live in New Hampshire and have had plenty of experience with the Big Dig. It wasn't worth a tenth of the money spent, not to mention the massive inconvenience of a decade of traffic disruption during construction. Now the damn tunnel that's the biggest part of it is leaking. The Ketchikan bridge sounds like a much better idea, but I don't know why both projects couldn't be locally funded. Your idea of a toll bridge sounds good.
small potatoes?? $5~10 Billion/year?
and Alaska produces about 18% of the US oil.
So over the life of this spending bill, you still believe Alaska is getting more than it receives?
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