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Rail News Home Passenger Rail

8/2/2001



Rail News: Passenger Rail

Transportation Appropriations Bill: All over except for the shouting


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The Senate Aug. 1 passed the 2002 Transportation Appropriations bill (H.R. 2299) following a unanimous decision to invoke cloture. But, as Yogi Berra said, "It ain’t over ‘til it’s over" — and it certainly ain’t over yet.



The bill stalled while senators debated language about allowing Mexican trucks to operate on U.S. highways.



"On the one hand, we have the administration, which took a hands-off approach to let all Mexican trucks across our border and then inspect them later — up to a year-and-a-half later," said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. "At the other extreme was the ‘strict protectionist’ position of the House of Representatives. It said that no Mexican trucks can cross the border, and that not one penny could be spent to inspect them."



Murray and Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., penned a compromise designed to allow Mexican trucks on U.S. highways and ensure that those trucks and their drivers are safe.



However, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., assured Murray and Senate members that he has no intention of letting the issue rest: "We are not moving on until we have exhausted every last remedy because there is a great deal at stake," he said. "Not only the fact, according to the presidents of both nations, that this language represents a violation of a solemn treaty entered into by three nations, but it also sets a terrible precedent."



Proponents insist the bill does not violate North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), but President Bush and his advisers disagree, said McCain.



"That treaty is being violated, and he will veto the bill," he said. "And I say, with supreme confidence, that we can muster 34 votes to sustain a Presidential veto."



Yet, while Senate arguments continued, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) found 363 earmarks totaling $986 million that it claimed constituted "Transportation Pork," according to a prepared statement.



Among them: $18.9 million for Puget Sound commuter rail project, $1.6 million for the Olympic Discovery Trail and $112,800 to construct an overlook facility at Diablo Lake, which CAGW attributes to Murray’s ability to "lure in [a total of] $81.6 million in transportation earmarks for her home state" thanks to her two-month-old position as Senate Transportation Appropriations subcommittee chairman.



CAGW also purports that then-Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, "secured $67.5 million in transportation pork for his home state," including $20 million for Alaska Transportation Rehabilitation, $5 million for a pedestrian intermodal facility and parking garage in Ship Creek, and $500,000 for Job Access and Reverse Commute Grants on the Kenai Peninsula.



The group also nailed Transportation Appropriations subcommittee member Arlen Specter, R-Pa., for $1 million earmarked toward boat docks at Station Square River Landing in Pittsburgh; Appropriations Committee member Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., for $1 million toward a bike path; Appropriations Committee member Tim Johnson, D-S.D., for $250,000 toward two bike paths; and Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Richard Shelby, R-Ala., for $1 million toward the Tuscaloosa City Riverwalk and Parkway development.