Published: 02.13.2004
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Arizona votes
°Republican Sens. Jon Kyl and John McCain opposed the bill.
SOURCE: The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Defying a presidential veto threat, the Senate overwhelmingly approved
a highway spending bill on Thursday that would bring jobs and billions of dollars
in new construction money to states across the country.
The Republican-controlled Senate voted 76-21 to pass a six-year, $318 billion
highway and mass transit spending bill, replacing the current six-year program
that expires at the end of this month. The vote margin would be enough to override
a possible presidential veto.
“Everybody agrees we need to put much more money into roads, highways,
bridges and mass transit,” said Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., a chief sponsor.
“This bill does that.”
But the $318 billion sought far outstrips the $218 billion approved for the
current six-year plan and the $256 billion the administration insists should
be the ceiling at a time when the government faces record-high budget deficits.
The House has yet to act on its bill. Some House members say the Senate total
is too low to fix the nation’s crumbling highways.
The administration says it would recommend that Bush use his veto authority
for the first time in his presidency if the final bill is at the Senate spending
level.
“This is the first test for the Congress when it comes to spending restraint,”
White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Thursday. “We urge Congress
to hold the line on spending.”
But Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said conservative estimates
are that the bill will create 1.6 million jobs over its lifetime. The measure
is politically important to many lawmakers eager to direct federal spending
to their states and districts.
Showing their willingness to take on the president, senators voted 78-20 to
defeat an amendment by Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., to reduce the funding to the president’s
$256 billion figure.
Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works
Committee, said that even as a fiscal conservative he believed in spending more
in certain areas such as national defense and infrastructure.
With Democrats generally supporting the bill, the fight was among Republicans.
“The party of fiscal sanity, the party of smaller government,” said
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is supporting a bill “when the president of
the United States and the American people are saying enough, enough deficit
spending.”
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