Capitol Watch
April 26, 2008
by: Elizabeth Wright

Government WasteWatch, Spring/Summer 2008

Election years are always dangerous for taxpayers because members of Congress are eager to “bring home the bacon” in order to prove their worth at the expense of taxpayers.  One egregious example this year is H.R. 1195, a bill to “fix” minor drafting problems with the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users Act (SAFETEA-LU), the $286 billion pork-laden highway bill that was passed and signed into law in 2005.  The bill is purported to simply make “technical corrections,” but it does so much more.  Even Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) called H.R. 1195 “a mini-economic stimulus bill.”

The legislation includes several substantial policy changes, such as increasing the minimum state share of total highway safety formula grants from 0.5 percent to 0.75 percent, as well as numerous new earmarks that will increase spending.   Two of the more controversial new pork-barrel projects in the bill are a magnetic levitation rail project (maglev), and a proposed interchange road near Fort Myers, Fla.

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) took the lead in fighting the $45 million dedicated to the maglev project, whose main supporter was Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).  While the original SAFETEA-LU authorized a maglev route between Las Vegas and Primm, Nev., the technical corrections bill envisions an extension of the project to Anaheim, Calif.  In addition, according to Sen. DeMint’s spokesman Wesley Denton, the government-subsidized project is competing with a privately-funded high-speed rail project between Las Vegas and Victorville, Calif., a city about 60 miles northeast of Anaheim.

In an effort to derail the magnetic choo-choo train and other new pork projects, Sen. DeMint offered a motion to recommit the bill to the Committee on Environment and Public Works with instructions that it be reported back to the Senate with an amendment removing all new earmarks or increases in spending for existing earmarks and apply all the savings to the Highway Trust Fund.  Unfortunately, his motion was tabled by a vote of 78 to 18.  The final cost of the maglev boondoggle could reach $12 billion, according to the bi-state commission overseeing the project.

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) also shook the Senate cage by demanding a bi-cameral, bi-partisan investigation on how a Florida earmark that was tucked into the original 2005 highway bill was secretly changed after congressional passage and before President Bush signed it into law.  This little gem started out as a $10 million earmark to simply expand Interstate 75 near Fort Myers, Fla., but magically transformed itself into a much more specific earmark to build an interchange at Coconut Road.  At the time, no one was really sure who had made the change.  Washington insiders were confident that Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), also of “Bridge to Nowhere” fame and former chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, had directed the switch.  The controversy attracted even more interest when it was discovered that the local community had not requested the change and that the main beneficiary of the change was a developer and family friend of Rep. Young who had held a $40,000 fundraiser for the Congressman in 2005.

Sen. Boxer rebuffed Sen. Coburn’s efforts to institute a congressional investigation and instead offered legislation to invite the Justice Department to examine the process.  The Senate chose to impose a rule requiring a 60 vote majority for passage and the Senate passed the Boxer amendment by a vote of 64-28, while Coburn’s amendment failed by a vote of 49 to 43.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) soon weighed in, directing the House to agree with the Senate and ask the Justice Department to investigate.  There are serious questions as to whether it is constitutional for the Congress to invite an executive branch agency to investigate its actions and it is anyone’s guess whether the House will investigate the earmark through its ethics panel. 

Put Your Money Where Your Mouth is Act

There is some good news from Capitol Hill.  Rep. John Campbell (R-Calif.) has introduced H.R. 5783, a bill that would amend the Internal Revenue Code to allow taxpayers to make voluntary contributions to the federal government (as opposed to the compulsory “contributions” they already make) on their income tax returns.  On April 14, there were 44 co-sponsors for this bill.

Rep. Campbell introduced the bill in part to respond to comments from those who think that the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts are harmful and unnecessary and are just jumping at the chance to give Uncle Sam more of their income.  Moguls like Warren Buffet have said that we all needed to do is, “take a little more out of the hides of people like me.”  George Soros has urged Congress not to repeal estate taxes.  Singer/actress/activist Barbara Streisand concurred, saying, “Afterall [sic], why should wealthy people such as myself [I’d like to put a ‘sic’ here too] receive a tax cut?  I will be the first to admit that I don’t need it.  What we all need is a healthy government that can provide the services (such as education, health care, national and homeland security) that we all depend on.  We must unify and work together in order to accomplish this.”

All of those who feel they are not paying enough in taxes can unite behind the Campbell bill and pay more next year.