White House warns of highway bill veto

[Judi Lynn]

Tuesday, February 3, 2004 · Last updated 12:21 p.m. PT

White House warns of highway bill veto

By JIM ABRAMS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration, trying to restrain spending, threatened Tuesday to veto a huge highway spending bill that would ensure building projects for almost every member of Congress and provide a jolt of new jobs to the economy.

Lawmakers from both parties said the six-year, $318 billion highway bill now before the Senate was must-pass legislation in an election year when few major bills are expected to pass.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., urged the Senate to finish the bill by the end of next week and said it could create up to 2 million jobs. (snip)

Mineta and Snow said they would recommend the veto of any bill that violated any of three principles: that it would have no increase in the federal gas tax or other taxes; that it would not be funded through bonds or other mechanisms that hide the real cost to taxpayers; and that the money would come from the Highway Trust Fund, derived from gas taxes, and not the general Treasury fund.
(snip/...)

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1151&slug=Highway%20Spending

[madrchsod]

1. wow what a bunch

of dumb fucks. let`s kill highway construction. did any of these assholes pass econonmics 101?

[pinto]

2. kick, jobs and infrastructure repair always pays off, tho there's

probably a lot of pork in this bill (highway funds are notorious trojan horses for funding pet projects at home...)

[maxsolomon]

3. this car-hater says GO PRESIDENT MORON!

anything to curb the paving of this once-beautiful land is fine with me.

while they're at it, stop making hiking trails into motorcycle trails with gas tax money.

whatever it takes; those gas taxes should be building high-speed rail & wind/solar power generation.

[pinto]

4. good point, there were movements to allocate some gas tax/highway funds to

alternative resources, especially inter/inner city rail....(strange I can write alternative resource and rail in the same sentence..and that's the nub of the problem.)

[Fovea]

5. Lets make the States pay it all

and let's see the price of gas go up several bucks a gallon.
It's going to be great to see all those new cyclists out on the road,
making vroom vroom noises and honking they tiny horns in rage.

[Robbien]

6. This is the bill that the repubs

want to hide parts of the pork laden energy bill.

Faced with continued opposition to a comprehensive energy bill, Republican lawmakers are considering attaching a slimmed-down version of the legislation to the ever-popular highway bill.

from here
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/2379801