Bush signs $286.4 billion highway bill

Bill cost $30 billion more than Bush hoped
"There were a number of members of Congress who wanted a $400 billion highway bill," Al Hubbard, director of the National Economic Council at the White House, said Tuesday in defending the president's decision to accept the bill even though it was $30 billion more than Bush recommended.

"Because of this president, it is a $286 billion highway bill," he told reporters at a briefing following Bush's meeting with his economic team.

Keith Ashdown, vice president of policy for Taxpayers for Common Sense, called the measure a "bloated, expensive bill" that the Bush should veto.

It is fitting that the president signed this legislation in Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert's district, Ashdown said, "because the speaker's district has the third highest amount of highway pork in the nation."

The bill contains more than 6,371 special projects valued at more than $24 billion, or about 9 percent of the bill's total cost, he said. The distribution of the money for these projects "is based far more on political clout than on transportation need," Ashdown said.

Large chunk of money going to Alaska
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.

Charles Rex Arbogast / AP House Speaker Dennie Hastert of Illinois introduces President Bush to a crowd at the Caterpillar plant in Montgomery, Ill., on Wednesday as Bush prepares to sign the transportation bill.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif., nailed down $630 million, including $330 million for the Centennial Corridor Loop in Bakersfield, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense.

Lawmakers backing the bill say projects were included on merit. They say money for infrastructure is well spent, especially considering that traffic congestion costs American drivers 3.6 billion hours of delay and 5.7 billion gallons of wasted fuel every year.

Thousands of new jobs will be created
Substandard road conditions and roadside hazards are a factor in nearly one-third of the 42,000 traffic fatalities a year, officials say, and every $1 billion in highway construction creates 47,500 jobs.

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.

"I wonder what Ronald Reagan would say?" McCain asked about the fiscally conservative president.

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