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Kentucky's Sen. Bunning Singlehandedly Idles Road Construction Projects Nationally, Including Many in National Parks

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Jim Bunning, Kentucky's contrary U.S. senator, singlehandedly has shut down road construction projects across the nation, including many in national parks, because he doesn't want to help middle-class families weather the economic storm, U.S. Department of Transportation officials said Monday.

The Republican's move to block key legislation forced the department to furlough nearly 2,000 employees and shut down highway reimbursements to states worth hundreds of millions of dollars, national anti-drunk driving efforts, and multi-million dollar construction projects across the country, DOT officials said in a release. Specifically, Sen. Bunning blocked legislation that covered tax credits for COBRA health coverage, unemployment insurance for 400,000 people, as well as the short-term extension of the Highway Trust Fund. The Fund supports all surface transportation programs for the nation – highways, bridges, transit and safety inspections, as well as efforts to encourage seat belt use and to fight distracted and impaired driving, the department said.

“As American families are struggling in tough economic times, I am keenly disappointed that political games are putting a stop to important construction projects around the country,” said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “This means that construction workers will be sent home from job sites because federal inspectors must be furloughed.”

Because of the shutdown, federal inspectors will be removed from critical construction projects, forcing work to come to a halt on federal lands, the agency said. National parks impacted by the shutdown range from Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where reconstruction of the Cades Cove Loop was to start in earnest Monday and Sequoia National Park, which has a huge construction project at its main entrance scheduled to Vicksburg National Military Park and even Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

Here's a breakdown of affected national park projects:

* Coronado National Monument, main park entrance, $1,500,000

* Sequoia National Park, main entrance, $15,000,000

* Golden Gate National Recreation Area, road construction, $8,700,000

* Chicakamauga & Chattanogga National Military Park, construction, $634,000

* Great Falls Park, entrance road construction, $3,100,000

* Piscataway National Park, erosion and slope damage repair, $89,000

* Natchez Trace Parkway, resurfacing, $8,100,000

* Natchez Trace Parkway, trail construction (Ridgeland County, Mississippi), $5,600,000

* Vicksburg National Military Park, road rehabilitation and resurfacing, $5,000,000

* Natchez Trace Parkway, trail construction (Madison County, Mississippi), $4,700,000

* Carlsbad Caverns National Park, roadway rehabilitation, $9,000,000

* Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Newfound Gap road rehabilitation, $9,900,000

* Blue Ridge Parkway, reconstruction and resurfacing, $6,000,000

* Fort Sumter Historic Site, entrance road and parking area rehabilitation, $262,000

* Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Cades Cove Loop Road rehabilitation, $6,700,000

* Shilo National Park, tour roads and parking area rehabilitation, $3,000,000

* George Washington Parkway, Humpback Bridge replacement, $36,000,000

* Blue Ridge Parkway, reconstruction and resurfacing, $12,000,000

* Virgin Islands National Park, Centerline Road reconstruction, $9,000,000

* Virgin Islands National Park, St. John roundabout construction, $7,200,000

Furloughs will affect employees funded by the Highway Trust Fund at the following agencies: the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Research and Innovative Technology Administration.

Comments

If Obama keeps spending this country into oblivion, we may just have to sell the national parks to China anyway. They are about all the federal government owns that are worth anything anymore. Is the Grand Canyon worth $15 trillion? Or will we have to sell all of them?


Kurt told the story of the effect on NPS visitors. Tomp added that Bunning is holding it up up unless it is "paid for", even though it is a stopgap measure preventing shutdowns for 30 days in order to give time for congress to negotiate the full extensions and paying for them. Both are "true". Neither are the "whole truth"; as Kurt states, that would require a great deal of distantly related information.

Sunsetreg: If you're going to complain that Kurt's post on the impact on NPS road projects (including delaying completion of some projects until well into the spring & summer high-visitation season) is the poorest example of false reporting you've seen, you should get _your_ facts right. Bunning isn't "holding the president's feet to the fire", his fight is with congressional leadership: in this case both party's leadership supported the 30 day extension. This isn't an Obama bill: it's a congressional stopgap because congress hasn't passed a full bill before these authorizations expired, and shutting down and restarting unemployment benefits, medicare payments, and highway construction projects costs substantially more than keeping them going until the full bill is passed.

Unemployed folks who need COBRA health insurance and unemployment insurance, federal highway inspectors on furlough and highway construction workers who were working on federally-funded projects, and doctors caring for medicare patients are all collateral damage, as well as the visitors to National Parks who will be affected by delays in the road projects Kurt mentioned. And, those of us who pay taxes (presumably all of us) are also collateral damage because of the additional costs of shutdowns & restarts: we'll either pay more or get less for the funding. You may think that cost (and the cost to NPS travel and unemployed folks) is worth paying for Bunning to make this statement. I don't.


You know the only thing that came to mind (and this could be the 6 cups of coffee speaking) when I read that we may just have to sell the parks to China (see Dave's post) were all the signs in China that had the funniest english translations imaginable. I can just see the sign at the Grand Canyon: "Please for not to be carefully falling in big hole"


People are objecting to this article because of the opening paragraph which states: "he doesn't want to help middle-class families weather the economic storm." Everyone knows this isn't why he blocked the bill. The quote has nothing to do with the NPS and should not have been included in the article. But the author saw an opportunity to take a shot at a Republican Senator by including this quote in the article. This makes the article nothing more than political propaganda and obscures the useful facts that it presents. I enjoy reading articles on this web site but when the articles discuss political issues it becomes clear that the author has an agenda. I read these articles because I enjoy the parks and want to keep informed of what is happening in our parks. Articles of a political nature should be kept neutral because our parks are neutral. On an aside, one should also ask why unemployment insurance and road construction are in the same bill.


Someone finally has the guts to stop the wildfire spending in DC and he is getting crucified for following the orders of the President. The President wanted the "Pay as You Go" applied and The President did not verbalize any exceptions. It is all the other gutless Congressmen and women that are putting this country in so much debt we will never recover.

While it is unfortunate the people affected by this are already hurting, the wild unfunded spending must stop, period. If it is an insignificant dollar amount as many supporters say it is, why haven't they identified the area to cut. Reason is they are gutless!!

And cut me a break, while I am a significant user of National Parks and other state and federal lands, if none of the projects listed by Kurt were not completed in the next several years the world would not end, no one would die, and I could still visit the parks and lands.

Kurt's rendition of Bunning's actions are certainly slanted and critical of brave Senator. Kurt makes him out to be the "troll under the bridge" but Bunning is actually representing all tax paying Americans and doing it legally. We need more Senators to stand up for the taxpayers...Bunning is a welcomed guest in my foxhole...not sure about some of you others.


I wonder what the response would have been had I written, "Sen. Bunning, using middle-class Americans as pawns, singlehandedly halted a spending bill and forced thousands of federal workers off their jobs, delayed unemployment and health care benefits for hundreds of thousands, and put in limbo dozens of road projects heading into the travel season"?

Certainly that's what he was doing, figuring that by putting so many in jeopardy that the Senate majority would side with him. Instead they called his bluff. And Sen. Bunning whined about missing the Kentucky-South Carolina basketball game.

Now, Concerned Taxpayer, does the senator from Kentucky really have the guts to stop "wildfire spending"? Are you aware that during the 2008-09 congressional cycle he alone earmarked $18 million for such projects as renovations at the Central Kentucky Agriculture and Expo Center, construction of One Stop Training Center at the Bell-Whitley Community Agency, equipment for the Breathitt Veterinary Clinic at Murray State University, an Anti-Sniper Infrared Targeting System, Soldier Barracks Roof Removal and Replacement at Fort Knox, and sewer renovation for the City of Vanceburg, among other projects?

And did you also know that he was a cosponsor of nearly $52 million worth of other earmarks, for a grand total of $69,686,575 in just one year!

Now, that's not to say all the projects funded with those earmarks are wasteful, but it's safe to say they added to the current budget problems, so let's not paint the gentleman from Kentucky as a budget hawk without his own skeletons.

And yet, it's also probably safe to say some of those projects no doubt wouldn't have gotten funded any other way. And that's what's wrong with the system. Congress has built a system that often requires sleight of political hand to fund needy projects without the glimpse of daylight, and along the way they toss in scads of unneeded projects.

As for whether I have an agenda, it's solely focused on promoting the national parks and building more advocates for them. We long applauded the late Sen. Craig Thomas, a Republican from Wyoming, for his advocacy and support for the parks. We have also acknowledged the efforts by Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee, back in 2006 to stop a drastic rewrite of the National Park Service's Management Policies. And last October we ran a story that singled out two other Republicans in a story on an environmental scorecard from Republicans for Environmental Responsibility:

You can't assume that party affiliation automatically leads to a specific outcome. Here's what Republicans for Environmental Protection had to say about Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine:

REP is proud to honor Senator Susan Collins of Maine as the “Greenest Republican in Congress” for the second year in a row. Susan Collins has been ahead of the curve on energy and climate issues since her election to the U.S. Senate in 1996. More aware than many of her colleagues about the risks of global climate change, Collins has been an outspoken supporter of strong action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through conservative energy policies to improve efficiency, reduce overdependence on oil, and diversify America’s energy resources. Collins has diligently worked at learning the complex science of climate change and applied her knowledge to lawmaking. She has visited Alaska and other polar regions to meet with climate scientists and see firsthand the impacts of climate change. In the 110th Congress, she cosponsored S. 280, the Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act introduced by colleagues John McCain (R-AZ) and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT).

Often going against the grain of party leaders, Collins has opposed business-as-usual energy legislation that fails to address security, economic, and environmental problems caused by our current energy choices. She has co-sponsored bipartisan legislation to boost motor vehicle fuel economy standards and provide tax incentives for purchasing hybrid-electric and alternative-fuel vehicles. Collins has supported a national renewable energy standard and stronger controls on power plant mercury emissions.

Good stewardship of America’s natural heritage also is a high Collins priority. She has fought to protect from the environmental risks of oil drilling the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Georges Bank off New England’s coast.

In the House, the organization applauded the work of Rep. Mark Kirk of Illinois:

REP had high hopes for a young Illinois Republican named Mark Kirk when he first ran for the House in 2000. He was the first congressional candidate we ever endorsed, and we are happy to say he has fulfilled our expectations—and then some. Kirk is the top-scoring House member in REP’s 2008 Congressional Scorecard. His score of 105 is the functional equivalent of Senator Collins’ score of 107. Each had a perfect score on votes and received one leadership credit. Kirk has been a steadfast champion of protecting the Great Lakes and other bodies of water, keeping the air free of harmful pollutants, developing cleaner energy sources, and protecting America’s many natural treasures. As a leader in the Tuesday Group, he is a strong advocate for a “suburban agenda” that includes the good environmental stewardship supported by suburban Americans across the country.

Among Kirk’s top priorities is fighting threats to the Great Lakes, including toxic pollutants, invasive species, and wetlands loss. He has worked hard to reduce mercury emissions from power plants, which is a serious public health menace as well as a threat to the Great Lakes’ ecosystem. Kirk also has given high priority to energy efficiency and developing cleaner energy sources. He has supported higher motor vehicle fuel economy standards and sponsored legislation to expand use of renewable resources such as biofuels, solar, wind, and geothermal. America’s natural treasures have a strong defender in Kirk. He has opposed efforts to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, supported permanent protection of national forest roadless areas, and backed legislation to give statutory permanence to the National Landscape Conservation System.

So, with that laid out, we'd be happy to profile any Congress person of any political stripe that works for the parks. Toss us your nominees!


What Sen. Bunning is doing is drawing attention to the lack of funding for for the bill. You have attempted to try and turn this into a Bunning attacks National Parks Service type of issue and most people are seeing right through your one sided story. Money for both unemployment "benefits" and the NPS as well must come from somewhere. Where do YOU suppose the elected officials should cut the budget to pay for YOUR favorite projects? Or would YOU favor raising the federal income tax rates on everyone to pay more for the NPS? If so, where does it stop? The powers in charge of the federal government want to use the national credit card to run up more and more debt (to primarily the Chinese, they are who we currently borrow the most from) to give out more and more money to their selected groups of friends and supporters. If this type of shinnanigans continues, eventually you will be paying ALL of your earned money to the IRS and still owe them more! Wake up!


Bringing Bunning's past votes up and say it is disingenuous of him to stand up to something that is against you agenda is a weak agument, to say the least, especially if that person is a politician. I think someone of great prominence once said, "He who is without sin cast the first stone". I will stand on the capitol steps with all of Congress, with stones in their hands and I doubt I would have to duck...not even once...well, excepting those thrown by the aethiasts. Additionally, comparing Bunning's 70 million to this 10 billion stop gap...well do the math, not even close.

We need more Davids to go against all the Goliaths. When do we stop the spending? When it doesn't affect National Parks? Child Welfare?, SS? Head Start? Medicare? Name a program and there will be an "activist" chasting David but at some point special intrests groups must understand it has to stop. Sen Bunning stood up to all the Goliaths, politicians, activists, colleagues, etc. and hopefully, he will win as the young David did. I love the parks, the animals, the fishing, the scenery and if it must suffer a few years to right this terrible wrong...then so be it. Trust me the alternative will be significantly worse.


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