On April 1, by a vote of 357 to 65, the House passed a six-year, $275 billion highway bill for federal highways, highway safety and research programs, mass transit programs, and numerous unrelated projects. The final vote came after the House soundly rejected an amendment to the Surface Transportation bill (HR 3350) sponsored by Rep. Jeff Flake (R.-Ariz.) that was designed to control highway spending by setting a limit on earmarks.
President Bush had previously threatened to veto any bill over $256 billion, but with an election looming, many members doubt he will actually make good on this threat. In addition, the Senate appears poised to pass an even more costly $318-billion bill.
In 1982, there were a total of 10 earmarks in the highway authorization bill. In 1987, President Reagan vetoed the bill because there were 152 earmarks, something he thought was unacceptable. Six years later, there were 500 earmarks in the bill. This most recent bill contains 3,000 earmarks-just for the House.
A "yes" vote was a vote for the highway bill. A "no" vote was a vote against the highway bill.
| For the Bill: 357 | Against the Bill: 65 |
| REPUBLICANS FOR: 162 Aderholt Bachus Baker Ballenger Bartlett (MD) Bass Beauprez Bereuter Biggert Bishop (UT) Blackburn Boehlert Bonilla Bonner Bono Boozman Bradley (NH) Brown (SC) Burgess Burr Burton (IN) Buyer Calvert Camp Cannon Capito Carter Chabot Chocola Coble Collins Cox Crane Cubin Cunningham Davis, Jo Ann Davis, Tom DeLay Doolittle Dreier Duncan Dunn Ehlers Emerson English Everett Ferguson Forbes Fossella Frelinghuysen Gallegly Garrett (NJ) Gerlach Gibbons Gilchrest Gillmor Goode Goodlatte Granger Graves Greenwood Hall Hart Hastings (WA) Hayes Hayworth Hefley Herger Hobson Hoekstra Hostettler Houghton Hyde Issa Jenkins Johnson (CT) Johnson (IL) Kelly Kennedy (MN) King (IA) King (NY) Kirk Knollenberg LaHood Latham LaTourette Leach Lewis (CA) Lewis (KY) LoBiondo Manzullo McCotter McCrery McHugh McInnis McKeon Mica Miller, Gary Miller (MI) Moran (KS) Murphy Musgrave Nethercutt Neugebauer Ney Northup Nunes Nussle Osborne Ose Oxley Pearce Peterson (PA) Petri Pickering Pitts Platts Pombo Porter Portman Pryce (OH) Quinn Radanovich Ramstad Regula Rehberg Renzi Reynolds Rogers (AL) Rogers (KY) Rohrabacher Royce Ryun (KS) Schrock Sessions Shays Sherwood Shimkus Shuster Simmons Smith (NJ) Smith (TX) Sweeney Taylor (NC) Terry Thomas Tiahrt Tiberi Turner (OH) Upton Vitter Walden (OR) Walsh Wamp Weldon (PA) Weller Whitfield Wicker Wilson (NM) Wilson (SC) Wolf Young (AK) DEMOCRATS FOR: 194 INDEPENDENT FOR: 1 |
REPUBLICANS AGAINST: 59 Akin Barrett (SC) Barton (TX) Bilirakis Blunt Boehner Brady (TX) Brown-Waite, Ginny Burns Cantor Castle Cole Crenshaw Deal (GA) Diaz-Balart, L. Diaz-Balart, M. Feeney Flake Foley Franks (AZ) Gingrey Goss Green (WI) Gutknecht Harris Hensarling Isakson Istook Johnson, Sam Jones (NC) Keller Kingston Kline Kolbe Linder Lucas (OK) Miller (FL) Myrick Norwood Otter Paul Pence Putnam Rogers (MI) Ros-Lehtinen Ryan (WI) Sensenbrenner Shadegg Shaw Simpson Smith (MI) Souder Stearns Sullivan Tancredo Thornberry Toomey Weldon (FL) Young (FL) DEMOCRATS AGAINST: 6 |
Not Voting: 11
| REPUBLICANS (6): | DEMOCRATS (5): | INDEPENDENTS (0) |
| Culberson DeMint Hulshof Hunter Saxton Tauzin |
Miller, George Reyes Stark Tanner Waxman |
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