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ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS HERALD |
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NEW JERSEY COMES UP SHORT IN FEDERAL TRANSPORTATION DOLLARS If you are a fan of political largesse, then you had to be applauding last week. In a bill that slid through Congress over a summer weekend, taxpayers throughout the United States will soon be anteing up over $275 billion to support our transportation needs. There is no doubt that the country’s infrastructure needs work, but the latest bill was chock full of pork. Among the pigs was Alaska Congressman Don Young. As chairman of the Transportation Committee, he truly brought home the bacon to his constituents. He secured funds for two bridges at a cost of over $450 million, one of which will be named after him and the other that serves an island of 50 people. The Congressman freely admitted that he stuffed the bill like a pig, and his state received more dollars per capita than any other in the union. For New Jersey, the bill authorizes $5.6 billion for highway, road and bridge construction and maintenance, and $2.45 billion in transit aid over the next six years. While that may sound impressive, consider the fact that our roadways are the most used in the nation, and how much more our state really needs. For every worthy project included in the bill, like $80 million to upgrade the Northeast Corridor, consider the $3 million that Chairman Young earmarked for a documentary about infrastructure advancements in Alaska. Taxpayers for Common Cause estimated that there are 6,361 projects in the bill with a value of $23 billion that are pure pork. As proof of that point, the bills passed by 91-4 in the Senate and 412-8 in the House of Representatives. While it is nice to get some tax dollars back to our district, we should look at the performance of our Washington representatives. Alaska has two Senators and one Congressman, yet they walked away with the biggest piece of the pie. Granted, it’s a much bigger state than New Jersey, and they had the Chairman of the Committee, but we send more dollars than most states to DC. If our representatives are going to go along for the pork, New Jersey should get our fair share in return.
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