Smith Joins McCain in Introducing Bill That Cuts Army Corps of Engineers Pork
WASHINGTON, March 06–Declaring that “taxpayers’ hard-earned money should not be devoted to pouring sand on the beaches of the wealthy,” Senator Bob Smith (R-NH) Tuesday introduced a bill that cuts excess spending on Army Corps of Engineers projects.
Smith, the senior Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee, introduced the Corps of Engineers Modernization and Improvement Act of 2002 with Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).
The bill prevents projects that are not “in the best interest of the nation” from receiving funding through the Army Corps of Engineers.
Peter Sepp, the vice president of the National Taxpayers Union, said “too many Corps programs are undertaken for political benefits rather than sound economic benefits, leaving taxpayers to foot the bill.”
“How can I look the people of New Hampshire in the eye and say, your tax dollars pay to maintain a waterway that sees two barges a year or to replenish the sand on a beach where the median home price is $1.5 million?” Smith said in a statement.
The proposed bill would de-authorize Corps projects that never received construction funds, some of which, he said, are over 25 years old.
The bill calls for some future projects to undergo an independent peer review. The bill also calls for projects to meet a cost-benefit ratio standard.
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
