Tuesday, August 04, 2009

John McCain Attacks Bike Spending



Highway Fund's Use for Bikes, Pedestrians 'Irresponsible' -- McCain

With Congress' authorizing of emergency funding for the depleted Highway Trust Fund, two Republican senators are criticizing the use of the fund for bicycle and pedestrian paths and "scenic beautification" projects.

Sens. John McCain's (Ariz.) and Tom Coburn's (Okla.) criticisms followed release of a report by the Government Accountability Office last week showing that $78 billion from the fund had gone over five years toward "purposes other than construction and maintenance of highways and bridges" -- including $2 billion that went to 5,547 projects for bicyclists and pedestrians.

McCain blasted the Transportation Department and lawmakers for earmarking funding for "frivolous" projects that could have been spent on repairs to the nation's crumbling bridges and highways.

"Over the years, the number of highway bill earmarks has exploded," McCain said in a statement. "Now, Congress wants to bail out the Trust Fund by saddling future generations with even more debt. Doing so is irresponsible."

Bicycle advocates fired back, arguing that bike paths and walkways are used for 10 percent of U.S. travel and help reduce air pollution and use of foreign oil.

"What the report suggests is that McCain and Coburn do not see nonmotorized transportation as useful transportation spending," said Darren Flusche, a policy analyst at the League of American Bicyclists. "They don't see that bicycling is in fact a form of transportation and contributes directly to livable communities."

Greenwire 7/4/09

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

John McCain is such a schmuck. Seriously dude.

Thomas said...

One of them is from a major oil-producing state. Can you imagine an oil rig on the Capitol Lawn? You get politicians either from oil-producing areas or have friends and relatives in the oil industry, they won't like anything that will not use oil, and will do anything to make alternative transportation inconvenient. This is evidenced in inadequate bus service, inadequate bike facilities, and poor urban planning.