Porkbusters: ending earmarks express wraps in Gulfport

The first leg of the Ending Earmarks Express is now complete, having just wrapped up in Gulfport, Mississippi at the site of the proposed Railroad to Nowhere (photos here). From the AFP's news release:

The Americans for Prosperity Foundation’s nationwide “Ending Earmarks Express” tour today visited Gulfport, Miss., where $700 million federal tax dollars may soon be spent to rip up newly rebuilt railroad tracks – a rebuilding job that has already cost $300 million.

The $700 million earmark was recently added the Iraq/Katrina “emergency” supplemental appropriations bill (H.R. 4939.) The earmark and full emergency appropriations bill are expected to come to the Senate floor the week of April 24, after the lawmakers return from their Easter recess.

“Our hearts go out to the citizens of Gulfport and the entire Gulf Coast region who have had their lives turned upside down by Katrina,” said Americans for Prosperity Foundation President Tim Phillips. “We fully support helping the Gulf Coast recovery, and it certainly seems like there are more urgent needs than spending $700 million to rip up railroad tracks that were just rebuilt.”

Phillips stressed that the problem with earmarks ultimately doesn’t lie in the merit of any one particular project, but the often secretive way they get stuck into spending bills. As Sen. Trent Lott told Roll Call last year: “The way I do it is, I fold them into bills where you can’t find it. I’ve been around here long enough to know how to bury it.”

Can always count on Trent for a great quote!