A recent alert from the National Taxpayers Union:
Oppose Big-Spending Highway Bill and Hike in Federal Gas Tax
President Bush wants to spend $256 billion on transportation over the next six years -- too much spending with too little reform for taxpayers -- but the President's proposal looks absolutely modest compared to the House and Senate proposals to spend $375 billion and $311 billion, respectively. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman also plans to raise the gas tax by 5.4 cents per gallon and index it to inflation.
Wasteful spending, not inadequate funding, has caused the decay of our nation's infrastructure. Among other issues is the fact that Congress has increasingly "earmarked" spending for projects that favor political constituencies over economic merits. This year's Omnibus Appropriations bill contained myriad transportation earmarks, including $20 million for a light rail project in San Juan, Puerto Rico (where residents pay no income tax), $400,000 for a pedestrian "demonstration-bridge" on the campus of the University of Missouri in Rolla, and $440,000 on "developing the byway story" in Michigan.
Better alternatives to the tax-and-spend status quo include legislation sponsored by Congressmen Mark Kennedy and Adam Smith that would give drivers the freedom to utilize new roads financed by market-based user fees (known as the Freeing Alternatives for Speedy Transportation, or FAST Act). Congressman Jeff Flake has proposed separate legislation that would devolve most transportation funding decisions to the states and reduce federal gas taxes accordingly. Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave is also sponsoring a bill that would remove "Davis-Bacon" prevailing wage mandates from federal transportation projects, thus saving taxpayers 20 percent in most instances.
This link at the NTU website includes both a utility for sending a message to legislators and a sample message.
For a helpful guide to lobbying congress on any issue, check out this Citizens for a Sound Economy link.
(If you find this site useful and would like to help make political devotions a mass movement, please tell others about PoliticalDevotions.com or place a link to it on your website. Then when you've done so, be sure to e-mail me so I can thank you personally! - Tim.)
Posted by Tim
at 12:28 AM EST
