By a vote of 82-15, the Senate last night voted down an amendment offered by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) that would have redirected $125 million in questionable Transportation bil money for Alaska instead toward rebuilding the highways outside New Orleans damaged by Katrina. Coburn explains:
The Coburn amendment would have blocked funding for a $223 million bridge to a town in Alaska with a population of 50 people. At $4.46 million per person, the cost of the bridge alone would be enough to buy every island resident their own personal Lear jet. The Coburn amendment also would have blocked funding for a $229 million bridge that would connect Anchorage, Alaska to hundreds of square miles of unpopulated wetlands.
The Coburn amendment would have then diverted $125 million in savings from those projects to repair the Interstate 10 Twin Spans Bridge in Louisiana, a 5.4 mile stretch of I-10 over Lake Pontchartrain which connects New Orleans with the city of Slidell. The Twin Spans serve as a major route into New Orleans for interstate commerce and working commuters.
Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) was the lone Carolina senator to vote against Coburn.
