Andrea Seastrand: “I support the Truth in Budgeting Act. You may ask why? I would like to give one example. Federal highway transportation…”

“I support the Truth in Budgeting Act. You may ask why? I would like to give one example. Federal highway transportation funds were designated to expand the Niblick Bridge in Paso Robles, within my district. The funds were appropriated, yet they could not be used immediately because an environmental impact statement needed to be conducted before the construction of the bridge could commence. Hundreds of thousands of State and local dollars had been invested in repairing the bridge and conducting the mandated environmental reports to comply with regulations to build the bridge. This took time. In fact, 4 years to be exact. Because all the moneys could not be used immediately, the budgeters wanted to rescind these unprotected dollars to mask the deficit rather than use them for their intended use, which is to repair and strengthen our existing transportation infrastructure within the United States. Well, I believe that if you collect a tax for a specific purpose, then, by golly, you should use it for that specific purpose. So for that reason, I urge my colleagues to strongly support the Truth in Budgeting Act.”