Congressman John Campbell's Blog - Green Eyeshade Blog

Monday, May 05, 2008

Posted by: John Campbell at 12:36 PM

Last week, the House passed H.R. 1195 which amends the Highway Bill from 2005, (The Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient Transportation Equity Act SAFETEA-LU). To say H.R. 1195 passed is an understatement, it passed overwhelmingly…there were only 50 of us who voted against it, including yours truly.

This bill was supposed to only be making technical corrections to SAFETEA-LU, but if you read what the bill actually does, it conveniently increases funding for roughly 500 earmarks.

Included is a “technical correction” which expands an earmark for magnetic levitation technology (MAGLEV), a mass transit program. This earmark was problematic from the start. This project actively competes with a private company that is raising billions of dollars (without taxpayer support) to complete a similar high-speed rail route from Las Vegas to Southern California. Furthermore, the demand for a MAGLEV route from Southern California to Las Vegas is relatively low. Taxpayers from Florida, Ohio, or any other state should not be forced to foot the bill for earmarks that serve a select few. Besides, you can get a plane ticket from LAX to Las Vegas for as little as $118.

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Joe writes:	Monday, May, 05, 2008 12:59 PM
Public subsidizing travel to casinos?
I would not mind seeing some public-private partnerships on a north-south maglev route on the east and west coasts to start. Probably the east to start with some obvious routes (say New York to Washington D.C.) to see if it could pay for itself. I am very suspicious of rail vs. highways (especially for metro commuting), but magleve has the potential of being rail vs. commuting airlines. With high fuel costs for the forseeable future the time for this type of high speed rail travel investment may be now. Especially if it can be done in a cost effective way (say with the Federal Government acquiring the right of ways for the track and then private companies competing for the rail service). But LA to Vegas? That is nuts.
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Virginia Patriot writes:	Monday, May, 05, 2008 1:10 PM
Why Not?
Build it from Mexico to the U.S.?Citizens of other countries wanting to migrate to our country are having to walk, in some cases risking serious injury or death. We should build them their own rail link to facilitate their migration.
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Joe writes:	Monday, May, 05, 2008 2:42 PM
Excellent Idea Virginia Patriot
We can get rid of prevailing wage laws and have those illegals built the line like coolies and then we can use the box cars on those trains to ship them back to Mexico. Win Win.
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hrsdad writes:	Monday, May, 05, 2008 4:32 PM
Derail this earmark
Business Week recently ran an item on Senator Reid’s MagLev proposal. He’s procured 54$M to date, and earmarked an additional 90$M under H.R. 1195. This funds research on a magnetic levitation rail system between Disneyland and Las Vegas. The estimate for the completed system is 12$B. Meanwhile, Las Vegas continues to dry out. Within Nevada there is an imminent water war. Proposed solutions range from groundwater extraction to sewater desalination and fresh surface water transfer. The capital estimates for the required 180,000 acre-ft/yr of water ranged from 2$B to 4$B, with total operating costs lowest for the surface water transfer proposals. Operating the groundwater extraction or desalination would be eight to eleven times those costs. It seems that 4$B for reliable water is more wise than 12$B for additional consumers of scarce water. Senator Reid should address the political issues with surface water transfer and/or desalination. That would be far wiser than researching the transport of additional thousands of people to a desiccating city. …unless he structures their tickets so they must bring their own water. Then the only trick will be to make sure they urinate near a treatment plant. Is that the genius behind his idea?
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FOWG writes:	Tuesday, May, 06, 2008 11:57 AM
John Campbell
A rebel in the midst of the Politburu. Where do we get more?
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mlund writes:	Tuesday, May, 06, 2008 3:25 PM
Let me see ... a Nevada Earmark
A Nevada Pork-barrel, anti-free-market, anti-competition kick-back ear mark. Could it be ... Harry Reid? The non-Socialist Democrats should choose between hanging their heads in shame or hanging their Socialist party-members by the ears for giving that swine the reigns of power. SHAME!
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The Mass writes:	Thursday, May, 15, 2008 3:19 PM
SAFETEA-LU TEch Corrections
Did the President sign it or veto it?
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Jim writes:	Friday, May, 30, 2008 1:57 PM
Maglev and ECCO (look it up!)
This is one reason that blogs are scary. This is a good topic that deserves to be discussed. First though, the initial blog did not put the maglev discussion into context in that it was misleading and incomplete. Second, everyone else compounded and confused the specific issue of maglev and the ECCO project. If you don't know about the ECCO project, then educate yourself, THEN discuss the money. Lastly, according to bill H.R.1195 Section 3, that was sent to the White House, it specifies $55 million over 3 years. A good place to start to understand the subject is the Congressional Record October 17, 2007 where the House Committee discussions appear.
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About John Campbell

John Campbell is a member of the House Financial Services Committee, and has taken a leadership role in addressing the country's top economic issues. Campbell serves as a member of the Joint Economic Committee, and House Committee on the Budget. He has a Bachelor's Degree in Economics from UCLA and a Master's Degree in Taxation from USC.