House slashes transportation from transportation bill, gloms Arctic drilling on instead
Transportation, energy, whatevah.
"House Republican leaders last week took the wraps off a federal transportation bill that should be called the Drive and Drill Act. The measure has no chance of passing the Democratic-controlled Senate, but it should be preserved in the Smithsonian as an example of what can happen when partisan politics run amok in an election year and when oil industry lobbyists get everything they ask for except, perhaps, a derrick on the White House lawn.
The bill would spend $260 billion roughly $51 billion a year on highways, bridges and other transit programs over the next five years. Thats a mountain of money, but it doesnt come close to meeting the needs on the ground. In 2011, a group led by former U.S. transportation secretaries concluded that federal government should be spending $262 billion a year to repair and improve the nations infrastructure.
Yes, these are lean times for the nation and for the federal government, and transportation must compete with other domestic priorities. But the nations roads, bridges and transit systems are in desperate need of repair and replacement after decades of disinvestment by Congress."
http://www.registerguard.com/web/opinion/27576307-47/transportation-bill-federal-funding-transit.html.csp