Mike Krempasky at Red State calls the Coburn Amendment to the Transportation, Housing, & Urban Development appropriations bill a Hill to Die On:
Friends, this is as easy a call as I’ve ever seen. If Republicans aren’t willing to step back from this idiocy in Alaska to fund the needs in Louisiana – they don’t deserve anything more than a snicker next time they try to describe themselves as the party of limited government.
For those of you who are unaware what the Amendment does, it would redirect the $220 million marked for the ‘Bridge to Nowhere’ to the rebuilding of the twin spans destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. As Glenn notes, this is a big deal:
The more I think about it, the more I think that the Coburn Amendment is a big deal. It’s setting the precedent whereby members of Congress go after each other’s taxpayer-shafting pork projects rather than turning a blind eye and engaging in logrolling.
Good. And kudos to Coburn, someone I have had little nice to say about in the past. He really has been advancing the ball on the out of control spending fight.