Washington, D.C.) — The House is considering passage of the Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users, (H.R. 3550) that will provide funding for surface transportation infrastructure improvements and safety programs throughout the country.  President Bush submitted a six-year $256 billion funding proposal, and threatened to veto any legislation passed by Congress over that amount.  Initially, the House requested $375 billion, but this number was eventually whittled down to $275 billion.  Nonetheless, the current version is full of pork, including 2,800 projects costing $11 billion.  Hopefully, the President will follow through with his threat and exercise his veto power until the bill is pork free.  The following is a sampling of the pork projects included in the bill:

-$4,000,000 for the Jones Falls Greenway to construct Phase II of this urban trail in Baltimore City, Maryland;

-$3,000,000 to construct two Missouri bridges and their approach roadways in Nebraska;

-$3,000,000 for the construction of a bicycle/pedestrian bridge to connect the shores of the Salt River in Arizona;

-$2,000,000 for improvements to increase beach access, prevent storm drain failure, and accommodate increasing pedestrian traffic on The Stand in Manhattan Beach, California;

-$2,000,000 for a high-speed catamaran ferry in Massachusetts;

-$1,500,000 for the Henry Ford Museum in Michigan;

-$1,000,000 to restore and expand a maritime heritage site in Bristol, Rhode Island;

-$1,000,000 for a parking lot in San Diego, California;

-$1,000,000 to implement improvements for pedestrian safety in Bronx County, New York;

-$593,000 for a sidewalk revitalization project in downtown Eastman, Georgia;

-$500,000 to upgrade sidewalks, lighting and landscaping from Cherry Street to Hampton Street in Montezuma, Georgia;

-$250,000 for the Blue Ridge Travel Association website;

-$200,000 for a parking lot in Oak Lawn, Illinois; and

-$50,000 for a feasibility study for platform mobile phone service in subway stations in New York, New York.

CAGW will provide continuing updates on pork in the transportation bill.  For more information, please visit: /site/PageServer?pagename=policy_porkbarrelreport.

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, mismanagement and abuse in government.