Larry Schumacher has an excellent piece about Bachmann voting against the Transportation Bill in the House of Representatives. He does a great job reminding us of the adjournment vote debacle (see also here) Bachmann put herself in just after the 35W Bridge collapse.
From the Blog:
Bachmann does not heart transportation bill
Posted: 11/15/2007 at 5:37 AM
I have a feeling this might come up in next year's election campaign.
U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. was one of two members of Minnesota's congressional delegation voting against the final version of a 2008 federal transportation, housing and urban development appropriations bill that contained $195 million for rebuilding the I-35W bridge on Wednesday.
On a final vote of 270-147, Bachmann and U.S. Rep. John Kline, R-Minn, voted against the conference report of the bill, which also contained the following transportation projects for Central Minnesota:
* $55 million to fund the Northstar commuter rail line between Minneapolis and Big Lake.
* $1.125 million for St. Cloud Regional Airport terminal improvements to allow for expanded air service.
* $820,000 for St. Cloud Metro Bus to replace aging dial-a-ride buses.
Final passage in the U.S. Senate awaits.
U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn. and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., have already sent out news releases touting the bill's achievements for Minnesota transportation funding for the area.
President Bush has indicated he may veto the bill, saying it was filled with "unwarranted spending."
If so, Wednesday's House vote does not offer a great enough margin to overturn it.
Bachmann issued a statement after the vote, saying:
"Congress has missed key opportunities over the past three months to provide funds for the I-35W Bridge, including two spending measures that were signed into law and a bill I sponsored to appropriate $195 million for repair and reconstruction. Now, funding for the bridge has been added to an irresponsible bill that will be vetoed over excessive spending levels. Rather than using a tragedy to help pass billions in excessive, pork-barrel spending, Congress should do the right thing for Minnesota and send the President a clean bill that will be signed into law and provide full funding to rebuild the I-35W bridge."
Democrats immediately jumped on her and Kline for the vote.
"We've gotten pretty used to Michele Bachmann and John Kline putting President Bush and special interests ahead of our state's most urgent needs, but this vote goes beyond ridiculous - it's callous," said Brian Melendez, Minnesota DFL chair. "After all the lip service they've given to those projects, including the Northstar rail line in Bachmann's own district, you've got to be kidding."
In a Coleman press release issued prior to the House vote, St. Cloud Area Planning Organization Executive Director Scott Mareck thanked Coleman for his efforts to secure the local transportation dollars in the bill.
"These efforts, combined with recent efforts in the 2005 Highway bill to secure significant funding for the Sauk Rapids Bridge and West Metro Corridor projects exemplify the Senator's leadership on transportation issues and responsiveness to the infrastructure needs of Central Minnesota."
Bachmann, Kline and U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad, R-Minn., last month introduced a bill that would fund the $195 million for the I-35W bridge reconstruction separately from the overall transportation bill.
That bill has gone nowhere in Congress.
Regular readers of this blog may remember that much debate arose back in August when it was reported in the Times that Bachmann and Kline voted to recess on the day the bridge funding authorization bill was up in Congress.
Yours truly took some hits for recounting the timeline of that vote and it was suggested that the Times was not offering sufficient context in its reporting, as there was no way Bachmann and Kline would ever jeopardize funding to rebuild the bridge.
It will be interesting to see how this vote gets spun.
Dump Bachmann has some pieces to the puzzle as well!
