PORK-FOR-RELIEF SWAP NOT "MORONIC"
By Chuck Muth (09/18/05)
Repeal Highway Earmarks, Re-Route Aid to Katrina Victims
When a "normal" family gets hit with an unexpected major expense, the first thing they do is cut out the "frills" in order to cover the cost of the unexpected major expense and not break the family budget. But as we all have come to know, when it comes to such common-sense fiscal discipline, Congress is anything but "normal."
Thus, when Hurricane Katrina wiped out the City of New Orleans, Congress jumped in and did what Congress does best: Spend money like drunken sailors (with apologies to drunken sailors the world over) with no regard for the fiscal consequences. Despite the fact that the country is already bleeding red ink in excess of $300 billion, Congress has already approved BILLIONS in new spending for Katrina victims...and will continue to spend BILLIONS more for relief and rebuilding efforts.
You'd think a Republican-controlled Congress might show a little fiscal discipline and cut out some "frills" to cover this unexpected major expense. And you'd be wrong.
Just before their summer vacation, Congress passed a massive $286 billion highway spending bill larded up with more "pork" projects than you can shake a stick at. This bloated piece of legislation included more than 6,000 special interest "earmarks" which often had little or nothing to do with highways (or even transportation). Here are just a few examples, as compiled by Citizens Against Government Waste:
* $230 million for the infamous "Bridge To Nowhere" in Alaska which will service an island town of just 50 people
* $4 million for bike paths and park space in Calexico, California
* $4 million for sidewalk improvements in Clarkson, Georgia
* $3 million for a river path in Springfield, Oregon
* $2.8 million for a bike/pedestrian path in Madison, Wisconsin
* $2.7 million for renovation of the Packard Museum in Warren, Ohio
* $2.48 million for bike/pedestrian paths in Chicago, Illinois
* $2.3 million for landscaping enhancements along the Ronald Reagan Freeway in California
* $2 million to construct an "intermodal center" at the Philadelphia Zoo in Pennsylvania
* $2 million for a parking garage in San Antonio, Texas
* $1.8 million to construct a visitor interpretive center at the Gray Fossil Site in Tennessee
* $1.2 million to install lighting/steps at the Blue Ridge Music Center in Virginia
* $640,000 to extend a bicycle trail in Aberdeen, South Dakota
* $320,000 for a new bicycle/pedestrian trail in Shelbyville, Tennessee
* $33,440 for a trolley barn in Harrison, Arkansas
And this is just the tip of the pork-barrel iceberg.
Now, some of the more fiscally responsible members of Congress have suggested that Katrina aid be offset by cuts elsewhere in the budget, to which House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, amazingly, said wasn't possible. According to a Washington Times report, Mr. DeLay maintains there simply isn't any "fat" left in the budget to be cut. We wish he was kidding...especially in light of the CAGW "pork" list mentioned above. But he was dead serious.
There is, however, a ray of hope at the end of this pork-barrel tunnel. According to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle in Montana, CITIZENS of both political parties have petitioned the local city council to give back the $4 million "earmarked" for a new parking garage, with one resident telling the Wall Street Journal, "We figure New Orleans needs the money right now a lot more than we need extra downtown parking spaces."
Which got the Wall Street Journal thinking.
"Why not cancel all of the special-project pork in the highway bill and dedicate the $25 billion in savings to emergency relief on the Gulf Coast?" it mused in an editorial. "Is it asking too much for Richmond, Indiana, to give up $3 million for its hiking trail, or Newark, New Jersey, to put a hold on its $2 million bike path?"
In short...no, it's not. In fact, that's EXACTLY what Congress SHOULD do. Repeal the 6,000-plus "pork" projects in the highway bill and redirect that money to the hurricane victims who really need it. But a spokesman for Rep. Don Young, Alaska Republican and Chairman of the House Transportation Committee, called the pork-for-relief swap proposal "moronic."
If you don't think it's "moronic" for Congress to set spending priorities, repeal the "pork" projects in the highway bill, and re-route that money to relief efforts for those hit hardest by the nation's worst natural disaster in history, why not let your elected representative know about it.
TO CONTACT YOUR HOUSE MEMBER:
(202) 224-3121
http://www.house.gov/
TO CONTACT YOUR SENATORS
(202) 224-3121
http://www.senate.gov/
Copyright 2005 Chuck Muth. All rights reserved.
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