Washington, D.C. – The House FY08 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies Appropriations bill contains more than 1,400 earmarks worth a total of nearly $2.2 billion for every state in the nation except, interestingly, Alaska, This total includes approximately $724 million worth of projects added by the Congress and $1.46 billion worth of projects that appear in the President’s budget.

Click Here for Complete Database of Transportation-HUD Earmarks

Highway Trust Fund

One of the more interesting aspects of the manager’s report is the discussion about the dire financial straits facing the Highway Trust Fund (HTF).  The HTF is the account in which all of the nation’s gas tax receipts are deposited for use repairing and building the nation’s highway system.  The HTF will run a negative balance sometime in 2009 (since this is the FY08 budget cycle, that’s next year!), yet the Congress and the President fail to make any substantive proposals that would alter this outcome.  The Committee unhelpfully points out that the President didn’t propose any new ideas, and then happily slices and dices a number of programs into 1,400 earmarks.

TCS has long maintained that earmarking is one of the problems that has led to this bleak outlook for the HTF.  Lack of prioritization has been a huge problem for our nation’s transportation program for many years now.  When the money coming out of Washington is so thinly sliced, it spreads it out to too many projects for the trust fund to support.  In addition, when transportation decisions are made based on political might (ie. earmarks) instead of on the nation’s true transportation needs, the priorities still need to be funded.  Again, this spreads the limited financial resources too thin and the trust fund balance slips toward the red.

There is little political appetite in Washington for the idea of raising the nation’s gasoline taxes, which have been at current levels for nearly a decade.  An idea that has received little or no discussion in light of this reality is changing the cost share (the amount the federal government and state/local governments pay) on highway projects.  Currently, the federal government’s funds can pay for 80 or 90 percent of most highway projects.  Decreasing the federal share to 50 percent will have the effect of forcing state and local governments to better prioritize how dollars are spent, since more of the funding will come from their own pockets.

The Winners

It is no surprise that the Chair and Ranking of the Appropriations Committee (Reps. Obey (D-WI) and Lewis (R-CA)) and the Transportation-HUD subcommittee (Reps. Olver (D-MA) and Knollenberg (R-MI) were some of the biggest winners in this bill. 
•Rep. Olver receives 16 earmarks worth a total of $16.24 million, including $275,000 for the private Barrington Stage Company to renovate the Berkshire Music Hall and Octagon House and $100,000 for a Massachusetts Landscape Connectivity Study
•Rep. Knollenberg receives 11 earmarks worth $6.25 million, including $250,000 for Walsh College, a private college, for completion of its library
•Rep. Obey receives 13 earmarks worth $16.24 million
•Rep. Lewis receives 7 earmarks worth $5.15 million

In all, the Appropriations Committee garners more than $164 million, nearly 23 percent of the $724 million in Congressional adds and increases, yet have only 17 percent of the House’s total membership.

Additional Earmarks

•$100,000 for the Murray Athletic Center at Elmira College (a private institution) in Horseheads, NY, secured by Rep. Rand Kuhl (R-NY)
•$250,000 for construction at the Walter Clore Wine and Culinary Center in Prosser, WA, secured by Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA)
•$100,000 for the Wakely Lodge Resort, a golf course, for renovation of the Wakely Lodge in Hamilton, NY, secured by Rep. John McHugh (R-NY)
•$81 million (admin request was $74.2 million) for the Center for Advanced Aviation System Development (CAASD), which is a project of the Mitre Corporation, headquartered in McLean, Virginia and Bedford, Massachusetts.  This was not disclosed as an earmark.
•$750,000 for the Indian Street Bridge project in Martin, Florida, secured by Blue Dog Democrat Rep. Mahoney (FL).
•$1 million (two earmarks) for the Interstate 66 project in Kentucky, secured by Rep. Harold Rogers (R-KY).
•$1 million for the Ohio River Bridges Project in Louisville, KY, secured by Rep. Yarmuth (D-KY).
•$50,000 for the National Forest Recreation Association, for construction of a National Mule and Packers Museum in Bishop, CA, secured by Rep. McKeon (R-CA).
•$250,000 for Downtown Roanoke (VA) for Infrastructure renovations for awnings of the historic market, secured by Rep. Goodlatte (R-VA).
•$100,000 for the Town of Boydton (VA) for development of the Walking Tour of Boydton, secured by Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA)
•$250,000 for Phenix City (AL) for riverfront development, secured by Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL)