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End of the Gold Line (Federal Funding?) Photo by LA Wad via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr
Senator John McCain has his eye on several transit projects all over the nation that he is labeling "wasteful government spending," including two here in Los Angeles, explains StreetsblogLA. His target is the US Department of Transportation's 2010 spending bill, which comes up "for a vote this week in the upper chamber of Congress."
McCain is proposing to block federal spending on projects, including the Wilshire Blvd. Bus Lanes and the Metro's Gold Line Extension via amendments recently introduced, of which "all but one of them to prohibit fellow lawmakers from earmarking Federal Transit Administration aid for local transit systems."
McCain's amendments are not expected to pass, but that doesn't mean federal funding for transit projects is in the clear; "Sen. Tom Coburn's (R-OK) seven proposed amendment to the 2010 bill include one that would "prohibit the use of funds for roadkill reduction programs, transportation museums, scenic beautification projects, or bike and pedestrian paths" until the nation's highway trust fund is on a firmer financial footing."
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Wait, I forget. Is it the Grand Old Party? Or the Grand Old Bag of Dicks?
Why of course I trust the judgment of The Wrinkly White Haired Guy who said Sarah Palin would be a perfectly fine President if he were to die. Besides who needs a train when you have your own corporate jet?
If this was a just world Ted Kennedy would be alive and healthy while McCain's brain would be nothing but mush.
Unfortunately, public transit is actually a HUGE money loser.
Tell me about all those money making federal highways.
There are some things that are important to build for the greater good.
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/50interstate.cfm
The Interstate System has been called the Greatest Public Works Project in History. From the day President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, the Interstate System has been a part of our culture—as construction projects, as transportation in our daily lives, and as an integral part of the American way of life. Every citizen has been touched by it, if not directly as motorists, then indirectly because every item we buy has been on the Interstate System at some point. President Eisenhower considered it one of the most important achievements of his two terms in office, and historians agree.
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/interstate/history.htm
Also, don't forget about all those self-cleaning oil tankers, and all that diesel exhaust that causes self-curing lung cancer.
"money losing" does not equal "wasteful" when speaking of public services.
Actually, it does.
Oh conservative America, how little you understand the true value of quality of life.
This is why we can't have nice things.
McCain is right. In times like these, when government spending is out of control we need to but these costly money pits on hold. And yes, public transportation if a massive money pit.
And no, torrmoz, that doesn't include the highways.. sheesh. Liberal America, your ignorance is bankrupting this nation.
god forbid we invest money in our own infrastructure.
glad the iraq/afghan wars and bush tax cuts were so profitable and had such a great return on investment -- not wasteful money pits like public transportation, health care, education, police, fire department, etc., are.
wait... how are highways exempt? oh yeah, socialism is okay when it's for stuff you personally like.
Europe invested in TRUE high speed rail during the oil crisis in the 1970s and today... well gee, they have a really awesome high speed rail network, used by tons of people! Mass transit = investment in the future. You know, like when we run out of affordable oil.
Do explain why highway spending is exempt. The vast majority of our federal transportation dollars go into highway spending, so why does that get a free pass while transit gets called a "waste"? Yes the Gold Line is an expensive project, but so to is the 164.5 million spent just repaving 9 miles of the 710 freeway, and that isn't even new construction. I can only imagine how much is being spent on the numerous new highway capacity construction projects around the country.
No, George W. Bush bankrupted this nation.
When did conservatives start reading LAist?
Hell, when did they start reading.
Military procurement and Highway funding are the biggest money losing programs. Billions flushed down the toilet.
McCain and his Right Wing nuts need to cut Military procurement and Highway funding, before they start fiddling with mass transit and alternative transportation programs that not only reduces our dependence on foreign oil, but reduces our need for military procurement.
The Highway trust fund is essentially military procurement. Eisenhower's inspiration came from observing Hitler's war machine operate smoothly over Germany's network of highways during WWII. Ike wanted the US to have that same capability, and voila, the Interstates were born.
I don't know about you, but I always aspire to take my inspiration from Hitler...;-)
It had been lobbied for by major U.S. automobile manufacturers and championed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was influenced by his experiences as a young Army officer crossing the country in the 1919 Army Convoy on the Lincoln Highway, the first road across America.
Eisenhower also had gained an appreciation of the German Autobahn network as a necessary component of a national defense system while he was serving as Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II.
In addition to facilitating private and commercial transportation, it would provide key ground transport routes for military supplies and troop deployments in case of an emergency or foreign invasion.
Jeez, can you imagine driving across the country on dinky little side roads? Personally, I think there's a lot of good with the Eisenhower Interstate system... we just can't put all out eggs in one basket.
(And in some areas, you get charged to use the highways, like the New York State Thruway - the money cycles back into the fund to repair and maintain the road, plus pay the toll collectors, build rest stops, etc. Granted, the price goes up every so often, and I think it's about $20 to drive from Buffalo to NY, now.)
If spending is "out of control", why are state workers furloughed so often it's pretty damned hard to reach anyone at the DMV?
Why are half our state parks closing?
Why are our schools such a disaster?
It's not a spending problem--it's a revenue problem, created by a fringe minority group with a radical ideology (i.e., the California Republican Party) who thinks the jobs lost from tax increases count more than jobs lost by a sickly, uneducated, exploited workforce.