Fred Stone wrote:

http://tapscottscopydesk.blogspot.com/2006/04/lott-says-hes-damn-tired-
of.html

Trent Loot?

Glad to see you're finally cottoning on to what these Republicans are really
like, Fred!

Fred Stone wrote:

http://tapscottscopydesk.blogspot.com/2006/04/lott-says-hes-damn-
tired-of.html

Trent Loot?

Glad to see you're finally cottoning on to what these Republicans are
really like, Fred!

Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, the Republican from
Mississippi, has had it to here with Porkbusters and other critics of
pork barrel spending like Sen. Tom Coburn, R-OK, who think the
federal government has better things to do with $700 million of the
taxpayers money than tear up a just-repaired coastal rail line and
replace it with a new highway.

Said Lott when asked by an AP reporter about criticism of the project
he has long championed and which was just funded in a Senate
Appropriations Committee bill to pay for the wars in Afghanistan and
Iraq, as well as additional Hurricane Katrina relief:

"I'll just say this about the so-called porkbusters. I'm getting damn
tired of hearing from them. They have been nothing but trouble ever
since Katrina. We in Mississippi have not asked for more than we
deserve. We've been very reasonable."

Nearly $300 million worth of repairs to the line were just completed
in January, financed by CSX Railroad and its insurance company. No
word yet on how CSX or its insurance company feel about the plan
favored by Lott and his fellow Mississippi Republican Senator Thad
Cochran to tear up the tracks and replace them with a highway to
serve the heavily populated coastal region.

Coburn thinks the project is a perfect example of the sort of
wasteful spending that has poisoned the national political process.
He told AP:

"It is ludicrous for the Senate to spend $700 million to destroy and
relocate a rail line that is in perfect working order, particularly
when it recently underwent a ... repair."

Citizens Against Government Waste's Tom Schatz is no more impressed
than Coburn, telling AP:

"For $700 million, the Congress could certainly do a lot more to help
people that are still without homes. It's certainly unclear what this
has to do with an emergency. It sounds like a wish list from the
senators from Mississippi."

CAGW just released the latest version of its annual Pig Book.

http://www.cagw.org

It was Lott who last week used a legislative technicality to kill a
Coburn amendment to another spending bill that would have required
the Office of Management and Budget in the White House to establish a
comprehensive public database of all government grants, including
extensive information about the recipients and the purposes of each
grant.

Go here for the full AP story.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2006/04/04/AR2006040401512.html

{more links at blogsite}

Fred Stone wrote:

http://tapscottscopydesk.blogspot.com/2006/04/lott-says-hes-damn-tired-
of.html

Trent Loot?

Glad to see you're finally cottoning on to what these Republicans are really
like, Fred!

Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, the Republican from
Mississippi, has had it to here with Porkbusters and other critics of
pork barrel spending like Sen. Tom Coburn, R-OK, who think the federal
government has better things to do with $700 million of the taxpayers
money than tear up a just-repaired coastal rail line and replace it with
a new highway.

Said Lott when asked by an AP reporter about criticism of the project he
has long championed and which was just funded in a Senate Appropriations
Committee bill to pay for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as
additional Hurricane Katrina relief:

"I'll just say this about the so-called porkbusters. I'm getting damn
tired of hearing from them. They have been nothing but trouble ever
since Katrina. We in Mississippi have not asked for more than we
deserve. We've been very reasonable."

Nearly $300 million worth of repairs to the line were just completed in
January, financed by CSX Railroad and its insurance company. No word yet
on how CSX or its insurance company feel about the plan favored by Lott
and his fellow Mississippi Republican Senator Thad Cochran to tear up
the tracks and replace them with a highway to serve the heavily
populated coastal region.

Coburn thinks the project is a perfect example of the sort of wasteful
spending that has poisoned the national political process. He told AP:

"It is ludicrous for the Senate to spend $700 million to destroy and
relocate a rail line that is in perfect working order, particularly when
it recently underwent a ... repair."

Citizens Against Government Waste's Tom Schatz is no more impressed than
Coburn, telling AP:

"For $700 million, the Congress could certainly do a lot more to help
people that are still without homes. It's certainly unclear what this
has to do with an emergency. It sounds like a wish list from the
senators from Mississippi."

CAGW just released the latest version of its annual Pig Book.

http://www.cagw.org

It was Lott who last week used a legislative technicality to kill a
Coburn amendment to another spending bill that would have required the
Office of Management and Budget in the White House to establish a
comprehensive public database of all government grants, including
extensive information about the recipients and the purposes of each
grant.

Go here for the full AP story.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2006/04/04/AR2006040401512.html

{more links at blogsite}