Representing North Carolina’s Ninth District                                                                        

MYRICK VOTES AGAINST PORK-BARREL SPENDING

      (Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Representative Sue Myrick (NC-9) today voted against HR 3550, the Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (TEA-LU).  The bill would authorize Congress to spend $283 billion on transportation programs over the next six years, which is actually $8 billion over the advertised cost of $275 billion.

      “This bill is everything that is wrong with Washington!  It is full of pork projects that have nothing to do with transportation.  The people who elected me to Congress expect me to be responsible with their tax dollars.”   

       Rep. Myrick continues to be a supporter of transportation programs related to the construction or reconstruction of highways or mass transit.  However, TEA-LU has hundreds of projects that have no relation to the transportation needs of America.  One  example of this that stands out is $7 million to build a “Renaissance Square” in Rochester, NY, that would include a community college, a intermodal center, and a performing arts center.  A few more examples of the ridiculous pork projects in the bill are:

• $4 million marked for graffiti elimination in Queens and Brooklyn, New York
• $250,000 marked for a website for the Blue Ridge Travel Association in Virginia
• $2 million for a high-speed catamaran ferry in Massachusetts
• $1 million for a parking lot in San Diego
• $3.5 million for horse trails in Virginia
• $5 million for a parking garage in downtown Bozeman, Montana

       “My goal is, and always has been, to keep tax dollars at home so that we could use 100% of each dollar; then fewer tax dollars would be needed,” said Myrick.  “The people at home know how to better spend the money than the bureaucracy in Washington.”

         TEA-LU’s $283 billion price tag is $27 billion more than President Bush’s request, and locks in spending that is 32% higher than the previous transportation reauthorization bill, TEA-21.  Transportation reauthorization bills are brought before Congress every six years.

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