Newswire - Connecticut debates keeping transportation money

By Tara Fehr

WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 - Connecticut residents will continue to travel on congested highways while paying high prices at the gasoline pumps as the Connecticut congressional delegation decides if it will redirect the state's $2.5 billion for transportation projects to hurricane relief efforts.

Eastern Connecticut is scheduled to receive approximately $54 million, including $14.4 million to pay for the extension of Route 11.

Some members of Congress, such as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., are considering giving their share of Congress' $286.4 billion transportation bill to help cover some of the costs of relief efforts in the Gulf Coast.

Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., who helped secure $130 million in discretionary funds toward improvements for transit service in the state, said he wouldn't be opposed to redistributing some of Connecticut's funds if it helps reconstruction in other parts of the country.

"I realize that there are greater emergencies and priorities today, then some of these projects that might have to wait a while," Dodd said.

The senator also noted, though, that forgoing these funds wouldn't be enough. He said the "burden" needs to be shared, referring to President Bush's 2001 tax cuts that benefit the top one percent of wealth in the country.

"We've got a lot of responsibilities to meet, and to rob the poor to pay for the poor seems to me unfair," Dodd said.

Rep. Robert Simmons R-Conn., on the other hand, doesn't believe the state can afford to give up any of its funds, an aide said.

"The Connecticut transportation projects aren't 'pork,'" Simmons's chief of staff, Todd Mitchell, said. "These dollars help create jobs and strengthen our region's economy."

Simmons also is concerned that redirecting these funds will run up against the current law requiring that transportation funds not used specifically for highway and transit projects must be returned to the highway trust fund, Mitchell said.

As for Katrina, Mitchell said Simmons thinks there are better ways to budget that does not include "jeopardizing jobs in Eastern Connecticut."

"Congress has already appropriated more than $62 billion in the wake of Katrina," Mitchell said. "Charity and contributions have gone over the $1 billion mark as well. Congress should reexamine the budget and see if there is any waste, fraud or abuse among federal programs."

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., who secured $50 million for safety, congestion mitigation and capacity improvements for I-95, had no comment on the transportation funds, but he said that funds for Katrina needed to be balanced and fair.

"We must do what is necessary to help the victims of this terrible tragedy," Lieberman said. "The best way to do this is a combination of cutting spending for less critical programs and canceling the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans."

For now, at least, Connecticut's transportation money will stay in the state. But regardless of the final decision, Katrina relief will remain a big responsibility.

"I think you'll have a balanced approach," Dodd said. "You're going to have to take revenue from state-assisted programs, but you're also going to have to have revenue raises to get this done, at least take off the table some of the ideas the administration insists upon--reform the estate tax, don't repeal it entirely. Don't make permanent these tax cuts of 2001."

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