Representing North Carolina’s Ninth District                                                                        

Where is your Gas Tax going?

Congress has just passed a bill that is an abomination.  It is everything that is wrong with Washington, DC. 

The bill that I’m talking about is called the Transportation Equity Act- A Legacy for Users (TEA-LU). Every six years, Congress takes the federal taxes you pay at the pump, 18.4 cents on the dollar, and puts it towards a large transportation bill. 

These transportation bills are suppose to help fund projects that will build and repair roads, and mass transit.  But many of the projects in this bill have nothing to do with transportation. 

I know you are wondering where this so called “transportation bill” sends your tax dollars.  Well, I looked into the bill and here are a few things I found:

• $7 million of your “transportation” tax dollars are going to build a “Renaissance Square” in Rochester, NY, that would include a community college, an intermodal center, and a performing arts center.
• $4 million is going for graffiti elimination in Queens and Brooklyn, NY.
• $2 million was set aside for a high-speed catamaran ferry in Massachusetts.
• $1 million is going for a parking lot in San Diego.
• $3.5 million was set aside for horse trails in Virginia.
• $5 million is going to a parking garage in downtown Bozeman, Montana.
• $250,000 for a website for the Blue Ridge Travel Association in Virginia. 
• $1 billion is going to fund a program to enable and encourage children to walk and bicycle to school.

When I looked at this list and saw projects that do nothing to relive traffic congestion or make our roads safer, I voted against it. Billions of your tax dollars were wasted. Taxpayers deserve better.   

I support the building of roads, such as the Monroe Bypass, but I do not support a bill that does not fulfill its purpose.  Especially one that costs $283 billion dollars, $27 billion dollars more than what the President asked for.   

If I had voted for the bill it would have been a slap in the face of taxpayers who expect me to be responsible with their tax dollars.  We need leaders who stand up for what is right.  That’s what I’m trying to do. 

###