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Murkowski’s Folly: No Road For King Cove

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Photo Credit: U.S. Army Alaska

Alaska has long received more than its fair share of federal tax dollars, as evidenced by its perennial first place ranking in pork per capita according to Citizens Against Government Waste’s (CAGW) Congressional Pig Book. Now, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) wants taxpayers to pay for a road in her state linking the town of King Cove (about 750 year-round residents) to Cold Bay and the latter’s all-weather airport, purportedly for safety reasons. In February, Sen. Murkowski threatened to block the nomination of Sally Jewell to be Secretary of the Interior unless the road was approved.

Sen. Murkowski’s pet project had previously been rebuffed by the Department of the Interior because the road would run through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Environmental Impact Statement, the road would cost $22.7 million, but data from the Alaska Statewide Improvement Transportation budget projections from fiscal years 2010-2015 suggest that the cost of the road could exceed $80 million, or more than $2 million per mile. Undeterred, Sen. Murkowski stated on February 12 that she was “prepared to consider all actions available…to convince this administration that denying the people of King Cove reliable access to medical care would be a travesty.” This week, Sen. Murkowski struck a deal with the Interior Department to get the road proposal reevaluated and toned down her rhetoric regarding the nomination.

Predictably, it appears that commercial interests, not medical emergencies, are the primary driver of the project. According to a February 24, 2013 Washington Post article, “Originally, both area residents and state officials viewed the road as a way to bolster the region’s fishing industry. …when King Cove passed its first resolution calling for its construction, it did not mention safety concerns and instead called for the road to ‘link together two communities having one of the state’s premier fishing port/harbors.'” The “safety” defense emerged only after it appeared unlikely that the road would receive federal funds.

Read more from this story HERE.

Republican-led House Rules Committee Bars Amendments That Would Remove Pork From Hurricane Sandy Relief Bill

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photo credit: vsellis

The Republican-led House Rules Committee late Monday approved a rule for a massive Hurricane Sandy relief package that shuts out most GOP proposals to pare back the size of the bill.

The main bill provides $17 billion in relief, and an amendment made in order would add another $33.7 billion, for a total of $50.7 billion.

Late last week, Republicans offered amendments that would trim the bill significantly, but few of those were made “in order” by the Rules Committee on Monday. For example, Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) proposed amendments that would have slashed $22 billion from the total package, but none of them were accepted by the committee.

And Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) proposed several amendments that would have cut more than $300 million from the bill. House Rules made just one of these in order — to cut $13 million in funding to “accelerate the National Weather Service ground readiness project.”

All told, Republican amendments were made in order that would cut less than $200 million from the $50.7 billion package. One of these, from Rep. Bill Flores (R-Texas), would cut $150 million for Regional Ocean Partnership grants.

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Porkulus: Senator Begich Gets $150 Million Dollars for Hurricane Sandy Relief in Alaska?

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photo credit: afge

The Senate’s emergency spending bill to cover costs from Hurricane Sandy includes millions of dollars that will never touch the affected Northeast — including money for salmon fisheries in Alaska, cash for an expansion of train service into New York, and funds to preserve and repair historic properties.

Lawmakers begin debating the bill Monday on the Senate floor, where the first thing they will confront is the size and scope of the $60.4 billion package, which aims to repair damage and to build protection against storms.

President Obama submitted his wish list to Congress, but senators added their own priorities. For example, Mr. Obama asked for $32 million to repair part of the Amtrak rail system not covered by insurance, but the Senate multiplied that request more than tenfold, to $336 million, with the extra money going to cover Amtrak’s operating losses and to increase train capacity into New York City.

The Sandy recovery bill also includes more than $500 million for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which amounts to a full tenth of what the agency spends per year, nationwide.

Part of that is $150 million for “fishery disasters,” which means money could flow to Mississippi’s blue crab and oyster industries, and to Alaska, where one senator said Chinook salmon have suffered.

Read more from this story HERE.