NATIONAL TAXPAYER GROUP URGES HOUSE PASSAGE OF AMENDMENT TO KILL DONALD TRUMP HIGHWAY
Press Release
For Immediate Release: | Contact: Jim Campi |
July 24, 1998 | (202) 467-5300 |
Washington, D.C. – The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste today offered its strong support of an amendment to the FY 1999 House Transportation Appropriations bill which would prevent the allocation of $6 million to study the relocation of the Miller Highway on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The relocation of the elevated highway would allow New York City developer Donald Trump to build luxury high-rise apartments with an unobstructed view of the waterfront thereby increasing the value of the property.
“Congress has overwhelmingly refused to support this initiative in each of the last three years and should do so once again,” said CCAGW President Thomas A. Schatz. “It’s an absolute outrage for the House to even be considering the appropriation of these taxpayer funds in order to boost the real estate values of a multi-millionaire. The government has already given its opinion of this boondoggle when the Department of Housing and Urban Development recently refused to provide subsidized housing loans for the project.”
The amendment to stop the highway relocation, offered by Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), is a continuation of previous years’ language and would prohibit any transportation funds from being used to study a Miller Highway relocation. Nadler’s amendment has strong bipartisan support from the House Porkbusters Coalition, led by Reps. Ed Royce (R-Calif.), David Minge (D-Minn.), and Mark Neumann (R-Wis.). The $6 million for the relocation study was added to the recently passed Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21).
“Rep. Nadler has fought this boondoggle since 1995 and should be commended for fighting pork-barrel spending in his own district,” Schatz said. “There is no justification for spending taxpayer money for the benefit of Donald Trump. The Miller Highway was reconstructed five years ago at a price of $90 million and has a life-expectancy of 30-35 years. A relocation would cost between $300 and $500 million. If it’s that important to him, let Mr. Trump foot the bill instead of heaping it on taxpayers.”
CCAGW is a nonpartisan, nonprofit lobbying organization dedicated to enacting legislation to eliminate waste, inefficiency, mismanagement and abuse in the federal government.