Senate Defies Bush, Approves Highway Bill

AP ^ | 5/17/2005 | JIM ABRAMS,

[katieanna]

WASHINGTON - The Republican-controlled Senate brushed aside a presidential veto threat Tuesday and passed a $295 billion highway bill, arguing that massive spending on bigger and better roads was necessary to fight congestion and unsafe roadways.

[Dead Corpse]

Once they get certified and go into production you should be able to get one for around $70k. Go for the lease option and you'd be looking at around $400 a month. Not too shabby.

[jsbankston]

I do not think the word Veto is in the President's vocabulary.

[ctlpdad]

I remember that, they drove a pile through a utility tunnel. Unnngh! Was that '94 or '95? Admiralty laws limited the damage recovery to the value of the vessel.

[Know your rights]

Those of us in the heavy/highway construction industry are cheering. I think this and defense are about the only ways our government should be spending money.

Is that all it takes to be a "conservative" nowadays: oppose government spending except defense and what benefits you personally?

[ctlpdad]

That would cut my 8-minute commute down to 2. Then I wouldn't have to rush out the door without taking out the trash!

[WakeUpAndVote]

Did someone say Ted Kennedy entered the building?

[Know your rights]

If you believe in fiscal conservatism, then you must be opposed to all of Bush43's budgets from day one.

Everything that wasn't national security and law enforcement. (And, no, I'm not in either line of work.)

[ARCADIA]

Good. Maybe President Bush will finally use the veto.

I doubt it. Bush hasn't met a spending package he doesn't like.

[AntiGuv]

GWB hasn't used the veto. He's the first full-term president since John Quincy Adams not to use it. If he doesn't use it in the second term, he'll be the only two-term president aside from Thomas Jefferson not to use it.

[ctlpdad]

Do you eat groceries? How do they get there? The thing that has made america great is our infrastructure, built primarily from tax dollars. There is very little else that gets the return on the dollar better than infrastructure.

It doesn't just benefit me personally, it helps keep our entire economy flowing.

BTW, Nice attenmpt at calling me a liberal.

[Dead Corpse]

It'd turn my one hour through downtown Austin commute into a 5 minute flight across mostly empty hills east of town.

[ctlpdad]

I remember bidding work on the Richmond San Rafael bridge, and there was not a single time of year when there wasn't some kind of enviro restriction for birds, fish, seal or whatever. They even required a diver pick up all the clams in the impacted areas and relocate them.

Here in CT, there are no real new roadways, so the enviro problems are not at the ratios you describe, but any new road would be.

[Know your rights]

it helps keep our entire economy flowing.

It should be paid for by its users, not from the general fund.

Nice attenmpt at calling me a liberal.

Your personal benefit was the first thing you mentioned.

[dirtymac]

"Good. Maybe President Bush will finally use the veto."

Don't hold your breath - The veto is not known to Bush. In all truth, I can't remember a single time that he has used the veto since he has been President. I would appreciate any of you offering up any examples of when he has, in fact, used his veto power.

ANSWER: He has not needed to use his veto. He ahs got what he wanted out of congress all of the time.

[ARCADIA]

It doesn't just benefit me personally, it helps keep our entire economy flowing.

Medicaid/farmaid/and wellfare recipients would say exactly the same thing... it's all for the children you know.

[ARCADIA]

He ahs got what he wanted out of congress all of the time.

Its all spending all of the time. Every bastard in there has gotten everything they have wanted, and it is all at taxpayer expense.

[JoeGar]

... massive spending on bigger and better roads was necessary ...

... and walkways ... and bike paths ... and hiking trails ... and snowmobile trails ... and ... river walks ... and ...

The highway bill is always the biggest pork barrel on which our Congressional pigs feed.