TJ Cox: “I regretfully must oppose this spending legislation, which commits taxpayers to foot the bill for dozens of…”

“I regretfully must oppose this spending legislation, which commits taxpayers to foot the bill for dozens of special-interest items having nothing to do with disaster relief. First, the House-Senate compromise bill costs $200 million more than the House bill. Second, it includes $262.2 million in nonemergency spending, an increase of $150.4 million over the House passed version. Third, it includes such nonemergency items as: $35 million for the Advanced Technology Program of the National Institute for Standards and Technology under the Commerce Department; $2 million for the Commission on the Advancement of Law Enforcement; $3 million for Ogden, UT, in anticipation of the 2002 Winter Olympics; $650,000 for the National Commission on the Cost of Higher Education; $101 million in education grants; $33.5 million for Botanic Garden Conservatory in DC; $15 million for health research; $1.9 million for the Denver Summit of the G-8, June 20-22, 1997; $16 million to the Customs Service for the Automated Targeting System; $5.383 million to the U.S. Postal Service to subsidize free and reduced rate mail; $12.3 million for a multistory parking lot in a Cleveland, OH, Veterans' Administration facility; $1 million "special purpose grant" of which $500,000 goes to a parking lot and $500,000 for renovation of the Paramount Theater in Ashland, KY; and $30.2 million for HUD Demonstration Act purposes.”