New tasks
More Or Less Credible
If President Bush doesn't veto the highway bill, he will be giving up his last shred of credibility on spending issues. He will also lose leverage with the Senate because his domestic policy threat will have been proven to be completely without substance.
This is what's in the news today:
President opened the gates Wednesday for spending a whopping $286.4 billion on roads and bridges, rail and bus facilities, bike paths and recreational trails, saying the projects from coast to coast would spur the economy and save lives.
Critics said the 1,000-page transportation bill was weighed down with pet projects to benefit nearly every member of Congress. The bill's price tag over six years was $30 billion more than Bush had recommended, but he said he was proud to sign it.
The bill ended up close to Bush's $284 billion number (reflect on that number for just a moment) that was the President's supposed cutoff point. It was close enough, in fact, that he didn't feel the need to use his threatened veto.
As for me, though, I can't find a way to be happy about this. I'm glad that he at least came close to holding the line--every billion saved is a billion that can actually stay in the more productive sectors of the economy instead of being gobbled up by bureaucracy. Still, the number is ridiculously high and doesn't support the idea that there is actually a fiscal conservative left in Washington.
Three million dollars to ''documentary about infrastructure advancements in Alaska?"
The President specified a number that he was unwilling to go past ($284 billion dollars), but it isn't purely the dollar figure that is offensive (although that certainly plays a part). No, what is truly offensive is that the veto should have been as much for irresponsible spending as much as for that arbitrary high limit.
How about nearly a quarter billion dollars for a giant bridge to be built in Alaska? It will be built to link a tiny tourist town of 15,000 to an island with just a handful of inhabitants. Why? Right now the island can only be reached by a short ferry ride, which seems to serve the island's 50 citizens just fine.
I'm moderating my comments, though, and my opinion about the veto-less President simply because, in context, it really is a vast improvement over the original versions of the bill. The original House bill weighed in at some $370 billion (and included a new five cent tax per gallon of gas), the original Senate version looked to top $318 billion, and the final bill looks downright slender at just $286.4 billion.
Of course, that's like saying that the 300 pound man looks slender next to the 400 pound man; if those are the only choices, then the one that's better still isn't good.
And that's what we the people got here: something better than it could have been, but it's still no damned good.