Lawmakers are quick to brag about the $286 billion highway bill -- and what they got for their home district. Some don't ever want voters to forget. We've told you about a $231 million bridge Rep Don Young (R-AK) got -- and named after himself: "Don Young's Way."
Rep Nick Rahall (D-WV) landed $16 million for the "Nick J. Rahall Appalachian Transportation Institute."
Here's what spokesmen for three of the leading anti-waste outfits in Washington had to say about the estimated $24 billion in pork included in the bill -- as reported by Newsday:
"Nothing beats a ribbon-cutting ceremony on a new piece of pavement. Road projects are regarded as a kind of government jobs program that Republicans
can safely embrace."--Pete Sepp, National Taxpayers Union
"This bill will be known as the most earmarked transportation bill in the history of our nation."
--Keith Ashdown, Taxpayers for Common Sense
"It's a symbol of why everything else is out of control, not just highways."
--Tom Schatz, Citizens Against Government Waste
The highway bill contains more than 6,000 "earmarks" -- orders that money be spent on specific projects. (Newsday)
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