The following is a written statement by Erich Zimmermann, Policy Analyst at Taxpayers for Common Sense, on Senate passage of the transportation reauthorization bill:
The $295 billion dollar highway bill passed today by the Senate is overpriced and will drive a Mack Truck-sized hole through the federal budget deficit. David Copperfield would be jealous of the fiscal sleights of hand used to pay for this legislation. With the Senate caught up in vicious partisanship over judicial nominations, it is touching that Democrats and Republicans were able to set aside their differences and send this fiscally disastrous bill sailing through on an 89-11 vote.
By passing a bloated bill that breaks the budget, the Senate has placed a big veto bullseye on the back of the legislation. The price tag on this legislation is well above the President's asking price, so President Bush needs to make the highway bill the first bill that he vetoes.
Our last dim hope is that lawmakers will whittle away at their spending appetite and shrink this into a fiscally responsible bill during conference. The fiscally responsible thing to do is to craft a bill that is not one dime larger than what will be collected in gasoline tax revenue.
The transportation bill is a vital piece of legislation that is crucial to the lives of every American. Taxpayers will only be satisfied with a transportation bill that solves the most pressing mobility problems, but does so in a way that does not send our nation into a deeper deficit hole. Taxpayers need a conference agreement that sticks to gas tax revenues, cuts down the number and amount of member earmarks, and finds a way to get Americans moving again.
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