The Coburn Amendment

I'm getting around to this treacherously late today, but DO NOT MISS Andy Roth's live-blogging of the “Bridge to Nowhere AND Don Young’s Way” Amendment, which Tom Coburn has sponsored to defund the "infamous 'Bridge to Nowhere' pork project that Congressman Don Young of Alaska decided to slip into the Highway Bill in the middle of the night."

Some key reports from Andy here, here, and here.

And here Andy cites some great stuff from the Club For Growth's Key Vote Alert yesterday:

This amendment will transfer funding from the wasteful pork project, the “Bridge to Nowhere” in Alaska, to the repair and reconstruction of the “Twin Spans” bridge in Louisiana. According to published reports, the Alaskan pork project costs $220 million for a 5.9-mile bridge connecting Gravina Island (population 50) to the Alaskan mainland. The cost of the bridge alone would be enough to buy every island resident his own personal Lear jet.

The Republican Congress may yet prove to have retained some fiscal sanity. We'll see.

UPDATE (6:06 EST): The Senate killed a smaller Coburn amendment earlier today.

UPDATE (7:28 EST): Alas, Tom Coburn's "bridge to nowhere" bill has failed 15 to 82. Allow me to join Andy in congratulating Dr. Coburn and the senators who supported him for acting on principle and fighting for his amendments today.

This is not a loss for the Republican Party (though the "Yea" votes were depressingly few), or for the Democrats who supported the bill; it is a loss for fiscal restraint and principles of responsibility that seek to impede government largesse. It is also a stark and important reminder that we here in the United States are undeniably cradled to the bosom of socialism.

When the Club for Growth is joined by the Daily Kos blog - which called this vote "unconscionable" and supported the bill primarily to shift this money to needy hurricane victims, but supported it nonetheless - you know exactly what the majority of politicians in this country really think of you and your money. That's right, you're in it for them, not the other way around.