There is no better symbol for the big-government excess of the Bush-era Republican Party than the 2005 highway transportation bill. Clocking in at 1,752 pages, the $286.4 billion piece of legislation wasn’t even made public until just hours before it was brought to a vote.
Despite being the then-most expensive domestic infrastructure plan in U.S. history, the bill sailed through both chambers of Congress (412-8 in the House, 91-4 in the Senate) thanks in large part to the 6,376 earmarks tucked inside. Alaska’s $200 million Bridge to Nowhere was just one of those projects.
Fast-forward to 2012 and Congress is again considering another massive transportation spending plan. Despite winning control of the House in 2010 on the strength of its Tea Party base, the House Republican leadership is now trying to pass a $260 billion highway bill that includes a $50 billion bailout for the Highway Trust Fund.
So far, however, many of the Tea Party-aligned conservative Republicans have held out strongly against the bill. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has been unable to find the votes for final passage.
Read the rest of Conn Carroll’s column HERE.
