posted
Huge highway bill becomes law Bush travels to Illinois, signs legislation
CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) -- President Bush signed Wednesday a whopping $286.4 billion, six-year transportation bill that lawmakers stuffed with plenty of cash for some 6,000 pet projects in their districts.
Bush traveled to Montgomery, Illinois, the second time this week he wento on the road to sign recently passed legislation.
The House and Senate voted overwhelmingly to pass the highway and mass transit legislation just before heading home for a five-week summer break. They left Washington carrying promises of new highway and bridge projects, rail and bus facilities, and bike paths and recreational trails.
Bush had threatened to veto the bill if the final version had too many pet projects, and it took nearly two years for Congress to reach a compromise the White House would accept.
"There were a number of members of Congress who wanted a $400 billion highway bill," Al Hubbard, director of the National Economic Council at the White House, said Tuesday in defending the president's decision to accept the bill even though it was $30 billion more than Bush recommended.
"Because of this president, it is a $286 billion highway bill," he told reporters at a briefing following Bush's meeting with his economic team.
Keith Ashdown, vice president of policy for Taxpayers for Common Sense, called the measure a "bloated, expensive bill" that the Bush should veto.
It is fitting that the president is signing this legislation in Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert's district, Ashdown said, "because the speaker's district has the third highest amount of highway pork in the nation."
The bill contains more than 6,371 special projects valued at more than $24 billion, or about 9 percent of the bill's total cost, he said. The distribution of the money for these projects "is based far more on political clout than on transportation need," Ashdown said.
Alaska, the third-least populated state, for instance, got the fourth-most money for special projects -- $941 million -- thanks largely to the work of its lone representative, House Transportation Committee Chairman Don Young. That included $231 million for a bridge near Anchorage to be named "Don Young's Way" in honor of the Republican.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas, R-California, negotiated $630 million, including $330 million for the Centennial Corridor Loop in Bakersfield, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense.
Lawmakers backing the bill say projects were included on merit. They say money for infrastructure is well spent, especially considering that traffic congestion costs American drivers 3.6 billion hours of delay and 5.7 billion gallons of wasted fuel every year.
Substandard road conditions and roadside hazards are a factor in nearly one-third of the 42,000 traffic fatalities a year, officials say, and every $1 billion in highway construction creates 47,500 jobs.
Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, one of four senators who opposed the bill, said the estimated $24 billion lawmakers directed to special projects was "egregious." He has cited dozens of what he calls "interesting" projects. His favorite: $2.3 million for landscaping along the Ronald Reagan Freeway in California.
"I wonder what Ronald Reagan would say?" McCain asked about the fiscally conservative president.
Coloradans argued over the need for $6.2 million for a bridge near Glenwood Springs. The city's mayor, Larry Emery, said the bridge is needed for safety. The state transportation director, Tom Norton, said other projects ahead on the list were pushed aside and the bridge project failed to make sense because of the lack of a connecting road.
-------------------- It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious.
IP: Logged |
posted
...in an effort to satisfy environmentalists, the bill mandated that all rebar supports utilized in the project be molded from recycled plastic."
IP: Logged |
posted
mrgr8... Where did you pull this from? HOLY SHEET!!!!!
quote:Originally posted by mrgr8avill: ...in an effort to satisfy environmentalists, the bill mandated that all rebar supports utilized in the project be molded from recycled plastic."
posted
I pulled it from my ass, unfortunately -- but it would be cool
sorry I should have put a smiley
quote:Originally posted by Bearclaw: mrgr8... Where did you pull this from? HOLY SHEET!!!!!
quote:Originally posted by mrgr8avill: ...in an effort to satisfy environmentalists, the bill mandated that all rebar supports utilized in the project be molded from recycled plastic."
posted
A $231 million bridge in Alaska is in the highway bill. It's going to be named for a Republican named "Don Young's Way". If we can get it to be a plastic bridge, we could change its name to the "Plastic Don Young's Way".
IP: Logged |
posted
Yes, George -- I meant no REAL news -- today's PR was just a showing of what the new GOOD PR's will look like from BAC. That will forever be "the one everbody forgot about" when we are looking back from the NYSE and sitting on the DJIA
IP: Logged |
posted
The biatch is back!! So fruit cakes, let's talk about all the gains since our last exchange. You know this is a piece of crap stock when QBID outperforms you. Now there's a thought, maybe Plasticon should use their great technology and start manufacturing high-end dildoes for QBID that say "Weeeeeeee that tickles when inserted"
IP: Logged |
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
