To: National Desk
Contact: Mark Carpenter or Tom Finnigan of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste, 202-467-5300, Web: http://www.ccagw.org
WASHINGTON, June 4 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) today chided the House of Representatives for instructing House conferees to the highway bill, by a vote of 377 to 30 to support its more expensive version of the Safe Routes to School Program, a $1 billion six-year project to build sidewalks and bike paths to schools and encourage children to exercise more.
"The Safe Routes to School Program is another classic example of how Congress is running away with our tax dollars," CCAGW President Tom Schatz said. "Members of Congress have taken advantage of the highway bill and added their own pet projects despite President Bush's call for spending restraint."
The Safe Routes to School Program, run by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, was an earmark added by House Transportation Committee Ranking Member James Oberstar (D-Minn.). The House measure includes approximately 3,000 parochial projects for home districts-double the number approved in the previous six- year highway bill, passed in 1997. Other parochial projects in the bill include: $15 million to build a road to a gold mine in Alaska; $8,000,000 to replace the Edward N. Waldvogel viaduct in Ohio; $250,000 for Appalachian traditions for the construction of outdoor facilities along the Music Heritage Trail in Josephine, Va.; and $250,000 to construct a transportation museum at a Cleveland high school.
"The Safe Routes to School Program is a billion dollar boondoggle, cleverly named to mislead taxpayers into thinking it is a much-needed project," Schatz continued. "When conferees meet to reconcile the House and Senate bills, it is imperative that they strip out such wasteful earmarks, and reduce the overall cost to the president's request of $256 billion. With a record budget deficit of $521 billion and the war on terror there are more pressing needs for the nation -- and schoolchildren -- than sidewalks and bike paths. And what about the safety of children on these routes -- will Congress be providing taxpayer-subsidized security guards to make the routes secure?"
"This program discriminates against children who live too far to walk or ride a bike. But creative minds on Capitol Hill will probably create a program for them above and beyond the existing public transportation subsidies. With many schools lacking regular physical education programs, books, sufficient classrooms and teachers, there is no justification for the safe routes program."
On Thursday, the House named 54 conferees. They will be joined by 21 conferees from the Senate to work out the differences in the $283 billion House bill, H.R. 3550, and the $319 billion Senate version, S. 1072. The president has stated that he will veto any bill that exceeds his funding request.
"President Bush needs to stand firm on his veto threat and show that fiscal responsibility is an issue he is strong on," Schatz concluded. "Congress has claimed that all the funding in highway bill is necessary. The Safe Routes to School Program indicates otherwise."
The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, the nation's largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.