Political Quotes

“this bill has several problems. The people of Michigan get even less money for their dollar than they did before. Currently, Michigan taxpayers get 88 cents back for every gas tax dollar that we pay to Washington for highway funding. Under this new bill, that falls to 79 cents. That's unacceptable. Today, people in Michigan pay 18.4 cents in federal gas taxes and 20 cents in state gas taxes. All of the state gas taxes stay in Michigan, but only 79 percent of the federal gas taxes will be returned to Michigan. President Bush's budget requested $256 billion over 6 years for a transportation bill. H.R. 3550 has been estimated to cost $284 billion. That's a 30 percent increase above the previous transportation bill of $218 billion. And the reopener provision is going to force us to increase spending in the future. Much of this money is not even spent on transportation projects. There is $3 million for a park in Alabama and $1.5 million for ``streetscape improvements'' in Long Beach, California. There are $1.2 billion for bike paths and more set asides for hiking trails, nature centers, obesity programs for children and battlefield preservation. There are 2,800 earmarks in this bill, 1,000 more than in the last transportation bill. And the Manager's amendment added $1 billion in projects to encourage people to support the bill.”