Highway Bill Revisited
Saturday, November 05, 2005
(SNN Washington) Today's Washington post features an article about a Senate movement to remove some projects from the $286 billion dollar highway bill passed this summer.
There may have been a few extra dollars spent on the highway bill.
Sometimes, even the small government Republicans miss the mark on lowering government spending. And some say there may have been a few extra dollars spent on the highway bill. Specifically targeted are 6000 projects, totaling 24 billion dollars.
People speaking out against the $24 billion in projects, are just people as anti-American lefty, John McCain. "But there's a great deal of symbolism associated with whether we're going to add $24 billion to the debt in unwanted and unnecessary pork-barrel projects," McCain said. To restate, McCain does not think that $24 billion in tax money is an important amount, but the symbolism is important. And McCain is right, this small drop in the bucket could only support the War in Iraq for about sixth months.
Targeted are 6000 projects, totaling 24 billion dollars.
Disgraced House majority leader Tom DeLay has a better idea of where the money has gone. In a speech to a group of conservatives, DeLay blamed the runaway spending during the past five years of Republican majority on Democrats. When asked by an audience member "How large does the Republican majority in the House and Senate need to be before Republicans act like the fiscal conservative I thought we were?" DeLay responded, "I'm not here to defend the highway bill," and then went on to defend the highway bill for several minutes.
