Washington, D.C. – Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) President Thomas A. Schatz today urged members of Congress to vote against the conference report on the Building Efficient Surface Transportation Equity Act (BESTEA), expected to be brought to the floor this week.

The compromise bill authorizes $200.5 billion in highway spending over the next six years.  The original Senate version was $214 billion, while the House initially passed a $218 billion measure.  Despite the diminished size of the final version, BESTEA represents a 40 percent increase over the 1991 highway bill and authorizes about $12 billion more in spending than was agreed upon in last year’s balanced budget deal.

“BESTEA is a pork-laden nightmare for taxpayers that busts the budget caps,”  Schatz said.  “Congressional leaders are quick to assure the public that they’ve identified the spending offsets, but most of the offsets are entitlements.  Does anyone really think that Congress won’t spend that money when push comes to shove?  CCAGW urges members to vote no on the conference report.”

The bill also contains a controversial measure which takes the highway trust fund off-budget and guarantees that the federal gasoline tax will be spent solely on transportation – a longstanding goal of the Prince of Pavement Pork, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bud Shuster (R-Pa.).  The most egregious aspect of the bill is the more than $9.3 billion allocated for 1,600 pork projects virtually hand-picked by members of Congress for their districts.

“Chairman Shuster must realize that the interstate highway system is finished.  At 18.4 cents per gallon, Americans are paying too much in gasoline taxes,” Schatz added. “Five-to-seven cents per gallon is sufficient for maintainence of and improvements to the current interstate system.  All that extra money lying around has caused an explosion in pork-barrel projects.  Few, if any, of these projects serve a national interest.  Sidewalk beautification projects, museums and sewer pipes for city streets are not worthy of highway trust fund money.  Micro-managing these projects from Washington amounts to bribing constituents with their own money.”

CCAGW is a nonpartisan, nonprofit lobbying organization dedicated to promoting legislation to eliminate waste, inefficiency, mismanagement and abuse in the federal government.