Texas Congressman Michael McCaul (R-Austin) has successfully passed an amendment banning federal funding of future aviation projects named for members of Congress. McCaul’s amendment was attached to the Federal Aviation Administration’s funding reauthorization bill, which passed the House of Representatives May 21.
McCaul said the amendment is aimed at halting glaring uses of taxpayer dollars on self-serving projects bearing a member’s name, giving bridges to nowhere, airports that few people use and a center for public policy as examples of such projects.
“Whether these are wise uses of taxpayer dollars is not the question. The problem is one of perception that these projects receive special treatment,” McCaul said. “This perception feeds the belief that members of Congress are arrogant and out of touch with the American people we represent.”
The amendment is similar to his “No Monument to Me” bill re-introduced in January, and other efforts he has sponsored to end what he has described as “this self-serving practice” of naming projects for Members of Congress.
Another amendment authored by McCaul, which became law last year, prohibited the practice for all government spending through March 2009. It continues to apply to Veterans Affairs and military construction projects for the rest of fiscal year 2009.
McCaul plans to introduce similar pieces of legislation later in the appropriations process, he told Houston television station KATY.
To read the full story: http://instantnewskaty.com/2009/05/25/5290
