It took a mere 8 days for President Bush to put his personal ideology ahead of figuring out how to deal with the issue of infrastructure. You may know that Rep. Jim Oberstar, head of the House Transportation Committee, and of course, a Representative from Minnesota, has proposed a 5-cent federal gas tax increase for a trust fund to help maintain or replace bridges across the country. Yesterday, we heard criticism from the ranking Republican on the committee. Today President Bush took it a step further and decided it was time to use this as his latest opportunity to take a swipe at Congress...while not considering the merits of such a proposal, or the likely support a proposal would have in affected states like, oh, Minnesota.
From the AP story (courtesy of the Star Tribune):
A week after a deadly bridge collapse in Minneapolis, President Bush dismissed today raising the federal gasoline tax to repair the nation's bridges at least until Congress changes the way it spends highway money.
"The way it seems to have worked is that each member on that (Transportation) committee gets to set his or her own priorities first," Bush said. "That's not the right way to prioritize the people's money. Before we raise taxes, which could affect economic growth, I would strongly urge the Congress to examine how they set priorities."
Star Tribune story
The first priority for President Bush is to try to fit the bridge collapse into his over-arching goal of not raising taxes, no matter the logic. Snub Minneapolis and every other part of the country with bridges in need of repair/replacement in favor of keeping taxes low. If raising the federal gas tax helps with infrastructure, it doesn't matter -- it just might offend his principle and his base, and that would be a true tragedy, right? Also, even though the debate over this issue in the coming months may change its dynamics, this needs to be remembered when President Bush comes to the Twin Cities in a little over a year for the GOP convention.
This is not to say a 5-cent gas tax raise is necessarily the right thing to do, though it makes sense to me, and Rep. Oberstar's quote when he proposed it makes even more sense:
"If you are not prepared to invest an additional 5 cents in bridge reconstruction and road reconstruction, god help you," Oberstar said during a news conference along the river downstream from the Stone Arch Bridge.
Link
Are we surprised President Bush is not prepared? God help him.