Bush Threatens Veto on Highway Bill
By JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration issued a veto threat again Tuesday against a popular highway bill, saying the president would be likely to reject any legislation that exceeds a White House-set spending ceiling or adds to the deficit.
The administration, in saying the legislation "should exhibit funding restraint," was at odds with many in Congress, including some conservatives, who say the deteriorating state of the nation's roads, bridges and public transport demands more aggressive spending.
The bill currently on the Senate floor, like the House bill passed in March, approves $284 billion over a six-year period for highway, mass transit and safety programs. The White House says anything above that number would subject the legislation to a veto.
It issued a second veto threat Tuesday on any new borrowing that "negatively impacts the deficit."
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and the top Democrat on the panel, Max Baucus of Montana, are working on an amendment that would boost the spending level to about $300 billion. They say they can do that without raising the deficit by cracking down on fuel tax fraud or closing tax loopholes, but it's not clear the administration will agree with that assessment.
The last six-year highway bill expired in September 2003, and White House opposition to Congress' ambitious spending plans has been a main reason for the failure to approve a new program. It has taken six temporary extensions to keep funds flowing to the states, but those extensions do not allow for new projects.
The popularity of the bill was demonstrated when the Senate voted 94-6 on Tuesday to proceed with it. All six voting no were Republicans, several because they said the bill was too expensive.
But the chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, James Inhofe, R-Okla., said, "Those of us who are conservatives really believe this is something we should be doing here."
He said that in addition to making roads safer and less congested, the bill could "easily be the biggest jobs bill in the history of America." Supporters frequently quote Transportation Department estimates that every $1 billion in highway spending translates to 47,500 jobs.
The other objections to the legislation came from senators from states that complain they pay more into the highway trust fund than they get back in federal grants.
"Arizona has been and continues to be treated very, very unfairly," said Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.
Fast-growing states from the South and Southwest are among the "donor" states that contribute more to the trust fund through the 18.4 cents a gallon federal gas tax than they get back.
Under the old highway plan states were guaranteed a return of 90.5 percent, a rate that would go up to 92 percent under the new bill. Donor states say that's still insufficient.
"We are once again being cheated out of our fair share of highway dollars," said Sen. Bill Nelson (news, bio, voting record), D-Fla.., who said that under one method of estimating rate of return, his state gets back only 87 cents for every dollar it sends to Washington.
