“President Bush must exercise veto to check spending,” says Schatz 

(Washington, D.C.)  The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) today blasts Speaker of  the House of Representatives Dennis Hastert’s idea to pass a 30- or 60 extension of the Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (HR 3550), which exceeds the ceiling set by the White House.  The bill funds thousands of projects in lawmakers' home districts and states and requires Congress to consider adding more money two years from now.  House negotiators will now head to conference to hash over differences with the Senate’s $315 billion version that passed last month.

“Members of Congress have raided the Treasury without any regard for fiscal prudence,” CCAGW President Tom Schatz said.  “It is time for President Bush to walk the walk and protect taxpayers from the big spenders in Congress.  Barring a miraculous turnaround in conference, this bill cries out for a veto.”

Both the House and Senate versions exceed the $256 billion limit set by President Bush.  The Senate bill, S. 1072, also calls for adjustments in the tax code to increase revenue.  The House companion, H.R. 3550, is partly financed through an increase in the federal gas tax.  Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta and Treasury Secretary John Snow announced the administration’s veto threat a day after President Bush submitted his budget to Congress in February.  The White House reiterated its intentions on Tuesday.  The House measure includes approximately 3,000 parochial projects for home districts—double the number approved in the previous six-year highway bill, passed in 1997.

 “After the energy bill debacle and passage of the costly Medicare bill, it is time for Congress to be up front with taxpayers on what projects they will be funding in the highway bill and how it will be paid for,” Schatz continued.  “Increasing the gas tax will only strain the economy by forcing hard-working taxpayers to pay more at the pump.”

The bill’s generous list of parochial projects include: $15 million to build a road to a gold mine in Alaska; $8,000,000 to replace the Edward N. Waldvogel viaduct in Ohio; $250,000 for Appalachian traditions for the construction of outdoor facilities along the Music Heritage Trail in Josephine, Va.; and $250,000 to construct a transportation museum at a Cleveland high school.

“Most taxpayers managed to survive without a transportation museum in their high school,” Schatz concluded.  “High school students today, unfortunately, will struggle their entire lives under the debt burden left to them by this Congress and its outlandish spending.”

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, the nation's largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.