We are at ease for the hundredth time today. Thankfully there is actually a bit of a ruckus over two amendments to the GARVEE bonding road building bill. Senator Keough and Senator Davis both are trying to obligate future borrowing for specific projects in their districts, in spite of the fact that the Idaho Transportation Department is supposed to objectively determine the most needed, safety necessary, urgent roads to build and repair.
Seems always in the last hours that the pork slides into the appropriations bills. Quietly, greasy and a bit acrid. This one smells none too pretty. We'll see if behind the closed doors here behind me in the Senate Chambers if Senator Cameron prevailed in putting his foot down and questioning this idea. Or if the pig will be all the better greased and slide on through when we come back to order.
……….
Greased in the Senate. Look for a bit of Oink in the next round of millions Idaho borrows for roads.
P.S. It the amended and earmarked GARVEE bill passed the Senate but the house killed it later. So the Senate amended a different House bill and the same initial GARVEE funding was tacked onto that bill (near as I could tell without all the two previously added earmarks). While I am not a fan of GARVEE and its millions in highway borrowing, (I always try to vote no,) I ended up voting yes because the Design-Build bill that the GARVEE borrowing got tacked onto seemed worth a try as a cost containment measure. These are the quandries we end up with at the end. Things get packaged together in ways they are not quite supposed to and it all moves quickly, often no time to read every word of the bill. I think this time mostly because that was the quickest way for Senate leaders to get us home.