Maine Delegation Not to Give Back Money for Transportation Projects
WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 – Maine members of Congress said this week they would not redirect any of the transportation funds-including members’ pet projects–that Maine received in the transportation spending bill to help defray the costs of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
“That money meets urgent infrastructure needs in the state of Maine,” Sen. Susan Collins said about the $1.1 billion that was allocated for projects in Maine last July as part of the six-year, $286.4 billion highway bill. “I don’t think it makes sense to take money that is needed in other states and reallocate it to Katrina.”
Congress recently authorized $62 billion for Hurricane Katrina and Rita victims and the cleanup and that allocation has caused some groups to urge congressional delegations to give up their pet projects -otherwise known as earmarks – and put the money toward Katrina instead.
“Yes, we should consider ways to address the deficit and bring real, direct relief to the Gulf Region,” Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) told the Daily News, “but we must not lose sight of maintaining the infrastructure that supports our economy and way of life.”
To offset some of the costs of Katrina, Sen. Collins suggested cutting back energy tax credits and subsidies that “go to the very largest oil companies at a time when they’re experiencing record profits.”
The Maine Heritage Policy Center, a free-market think tank based in Portland, last week called for the Maine delegation to follow in the footsteps of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) – who said last week she would give up her district’s earmarks and put them toward Hurricane Katrina relief instead -and give back 50 percent of earmarks designated for Maine transportation projects.
It is time to set new priorities, said Bill Becker, executive director of the center.
“We’re facing potentially the greatest reconstruction on American soil since the Civil War,” he said. “Is that not a priority and does that not take precedence over other projects both in Maine and across the nation?”
Rep. Michael Michaud (D-Maine), a member of the House Committee on Transportation and the Infrastructure, disagreed. “Federal transportation funding generates 10,000 jobs in Maine,” he told the Daily News “Putting some of those people out of work by reducing federal investments is not a good way to fund hurricane relief.”
Earmarks have grown tremendously in the last 15 years. This year there were 6,371 earmarks in the transportation bill, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan government watchdog group based in Washington. In 1991 there were only 538 earmarks, according to a previously published report.
“We certainly support a robust investment in transportation, but we felt as though the earmarking not only had gone out of control but really was the wrong way to legislate in transportation bills,” said Erich Zimmermann, a senior policy analyst with the taxpayers group.
Maine projects receiving earmarked money under the new transportation bill include $33 million for the Aroostook North-South Highway project, $18 million for the Maine East-West Corridor Project, $16 million for the Deer Isle-Sedgwick Bridge, $4 million for the Acadia National Park’s offsite intermodal transportation center, $2.6million for the Rockland Ferry Project, $1.75 million for access and traffic improvements to Route 15 in Brewer and $1.5 million for improvements and construction of US Route 1A and State Route 9 in Bangor.
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