Senate Overwhelmingly Defeats Effort to Cut Pork Projects

[Rudey]

U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn last Thursday offered what seemed to us to be very modest, common-sense amendments to restrain federal spending. The first would have killed three of the more than 6,000 pork projects in the recent $295 billion transportation bill – an animal facility in Rhode Island ($200,000), a sculpture park in Seattle ($500,000), and a parking facility in Nebraska ($950,000.) Sen. Coburn’s second amendment would have transferred funding for two bridges in Alaska, including Sen. Ted Stevens’ infamous $223 million “Bridge to Nowhere,” and instead used the money to repair a bridge in Louisiana that was damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

Seems reasonable, right? With all the talk in Washington about how spending needs to finally be restrained, you might think these two amendments would have a lot of support. But you’d be wrong. Sen. Coburn’s first amendment was defeated 86-13 and his second was defeated 82-15 – after Sen. Stevens threatened on the Senate floor to resign from the body if the amendment were to be approved.

While this is obviously not a good sign for fiscal conservatives who want to see pork-barrel spending curtailed, we at Americans for Prosperity salute the 13 brave souls – 12 Republicans and one Democrat -- who truly took a stand for the taxpayers on Thursday evening by supporting the first Coburn amendment: George Allen (Va.), Richard Burr (NC), Tom Coburn (Okla.), Jim DeMint (SC), John Ensign (Nev.), Russ Feingold (Wis.), Lindsey Graham (SC), Chuck Hagel (Neb.), Jon Kyl (Ariz.), John McCain (Ariz.), Jeff Sessions (Ala.), John Sununu (NH) and Jim Talent (Mo.)

-Rudey