Bush Signs $286.4 Billion Highway Bill

[sintax]

Bush Signs $286.4 Billion Highway Bill

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer

Wednesday, August 10, 2005
 

(08-10) 09:24 PDT Montgomery, Ill. (AP) --


With fanfare, Bush signed the more than 1,000-page highway bill into law even though it was more costly than he preferred. It includes cash to bankroll some 6,000 pet projects for lawmakers in their home districts.

The setting for Bush's bill-signing ceremony and speech was a plant operated by Caterpillar Inc., which makes road-building equipment. For the president, it was his second trip away from his Texas ranch this week to highlight recently passed legislation.

<snip>

Alaska, the third-least populated state, for instance, got the fourth most money for special projects — $941 million — thanks largely to the work of its lone representative, House Transportation Committee Chairman Don Young. That included $231 million for a bridge near Anchorage to be named "Don Young's Way" in honor of the Republican.

<snip>

But Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., one of four senators who opposed the bill, said the estimated $24 billion lawmakers directed to special projects was "egregious." He has cited dozens of what he calls "interesting" projects. His favorite: $2.3 million for landscaping along the Ronald Reagan Freeway in California.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/08/10/national/w085413D31.DTL

[jsamuel]

1. yay, this could mean a job for me!

but some of the things they wrote into it are kinda nuts...

[Roland99]

2. If Alaska gets $1 billion including 1/4 billion for a bridge for a Repuke,

Louisville damn well better some federal funding for the MUCH-NEEDED bridges across the Ohio River here.