Some in GOP regret pork-stuffed highway bill [View All]

[truthpusher]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9917109/

Some in GOP regret pork-stuffed highway bill
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Measure features 6,000 pet projects, including ‘Bridge to Nowhere'
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By Shailagh Murray
The Washington Post
Updated: 10:22 p.m. ET Nov. 4, 2005
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The highway bill seemed like such a good idea when it sailed through Congress this summer. But now Republicans who assembled the record spending package are suffering buyer's remorse.

The $286 billion legislation was stuffed with 6,000 pet projects for lawmakers' districts, including what critics denounce as a $223 million "Bridge to Nowhere" that would replace a 7-minute ferry ride in a sparsely populated area of Alaska. Usually members of Congress cannot wait to rush home and brag about such bounty -- a staggering number of parking lots, bus depots, bike paths and new interchanges for just about every congressional district in the country that added $24 billion to the overall cost of maintaining the nation's highways and bridges in the coming years.

But with spiraling war and hurricane recovery costs, the pork-laden bill has become a political albatross for Republicans, who have been promising since President Bush took office to get rid of wasteful spending.

"Does it make all the difference in the world? No," said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), one of four senators who voted against the highway bill. "But there's a great deal of symbolism associated with whether we're going to add $24 billion to the debt in unwanted and unnecessary pork-barrel projects."

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complete story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9917109/