Politico.com
By BURGESS EVERETT | 1/25/12 12:28 AM EST
Mention earmarks and what springs to mind? The Bridge to Nowhere? Coconut Road? The Big Dig? John Murtha’s airport?
The practice, notorious for embodying Washington’s pay-to-play culture, nonetheless got lawmakers enthusiastic about the less-than-sexy process of funding the country’s highway and transit systems.
Now, leaders are trying to figure out how to pass a $260 billion, five-year transportation bill (in the House) or a $109 billion, two-year bill (in the Senate) while at the same time telling lawmakers they may not have anything to show for it in their home districts to ward off headlines like: “Congressman X just voted for a bloated XXX billion highway bill.”
“We’ve never done this on the transportation bill. There’s always been earmarks,” said longtime House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee member Rep. Jerry Costello (D-Ill.).
The 2005 highway bill, for instance, had the support of more than 90 percent of lawmakers in each chamber. It also had about 6,300 earmarks, according to the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission... FULL ARTICLE
Posted on
Wed, January 25, 2012
by John Cox