The recent bridge collapse in Minnesota has brought the issue of road repair and funding into the national spotlight. Last week, President Bush was asked about a proposed tax hike on fuel to pay for repairing Americas Bridges, “Before we raise taxes, which could affect economic growth, I would strongly urge the Congress to examine how they set priorities,” referring to the fact that committee members in Congress have long had the right to skim off funding from the road repair budget for use on pork-barrel projects, ie the infamous “bridge to nowhere“.

The State of New York released numbers showing that for years the state has diverted as much as $750 million annually from a “dedicated” tax fund intended for bridge and highway maintenance and repair, using the money instead to cover unrelated budget costs. The State Comptroller says that only 28 percent went to building or repairing bridges and highways in 2004-05. These numbers are repeated all across the country. My own State of Missouri raided its bridge fund for years until voters angered by bad roads and bridges across the State voted to restrict the use of these funds. Officials suddenly found themselves short of money to put air conditioning in schools but the roads to the school started getting repaired. Missouri has a long way to go, their years of abusing the bridge and road funds has left them with the worse bridges in the Nation. Both Federal and State officials see these funds that are supposed to go to upkeep and repair of bridges and highways as easy sources of funds for every pet project that comes down the pipe.

The actions of lawmakers to skim funds from roads to buy votes through pork-barrel spending should not only be stopped but voters should look upon these politicians as criminal. The Democrats and led by Nancy Pelosi promised to end Pork-Barrel spending and earmarks for special projects but have failed to honor that promise.

People die when infrastructure is allowed to degrade and it is an even larger tragedy when the rot in the system is caused by our elected officials. There is no reason to raise taxes as some in Washington have proposed, quit stealing from the fund for projects that you could never get voters to pay for. Highway taxes need to go to highways first, fill potholes not the pockets of special interest.

Stay Safe;
Don Rogers