Americans for Prosperity (AFP), the nation’s premier grassroots organization, announced on Friday that it applauds the ceasing of all plans for Alaska to pursue construction of the infamous Gravina Bridge, or “Bridge to Nowhere”.
AFP declares itself committed to advancing every individual’s right to economic freedom and opportunity. The organization is committed to the concept that reducing the size and scope of government is the surest way to protect the individual productivity and prosperity of all Americans citizens.
“The death of the Alaska Bridge to Nowhere is a testament to the power of grassroots activism. Citizen outrage against hard-earned tax dollars being wasted on questionable pet projects delivered this victory for taxpayers…By communicating their frustration over this incredibly wasteful use of federal tax dollars, citizens created an environment in which the Bridge to Nowhere could not survive any longer. I applaud those hard-nosed lawmakers that helped to fight against the Bridge to Nowhere, including Senator Tom Coburn, Representative Jeff Flake, and Representative Mark Kirk,” stated Americans for Prosperity President Tim Phillips.
The “Bridge to Nowhere” would have connected a tiny island to one very small town in Alaska and would have cost in excess of $220 million to build. It was placed on the highway bill that Congress passed in the summer of 2005 as a piece of pork barrel spending. Republican Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma very soon after tried to amend the bill to divert that money and money for another proposed Alaskan bridge of equal un-importance to repairing the Katrina-damaged Interstate 10 bridge across Lake Pontchartrain, which is the largest estuary in southern Louisiana and a vital commercial resource for New Orleans.
Coburn, who is renowned for his staunch dislike of pork barrel spending, was shot down then by Congressional representatives of Alaska, who saw the money as part of pet projects designed to please constituent voters. But the defeat of Coburn lit a fire under activists and groups such as AFP, and now the Bridge to Nowhere is no more.
Pork barrel spending is a tradition on Capitol Hill, and many people see it as an underhanded one. It usually involves slipping the authorization to allocate or earmark federally collected tax dollars for a constituent special-interest project in the “backdoor” of a more nationally comprehensive spending bill. Because these spending add-ons are usually placed at the last minute and thus rarely debated, they typically get overlooked in the bill authorization process; but when the bill is signed into law, so is the pork spending, regardless of how little-noticed it may have been by most.
The phrase “pork barrel” originated on the American Southern Plantations in the 18th and 19th centuries, where slaves were given the leftover edible remains of slaughtered pigs from the barrels where they were tossed.
Source:
Americans for Prosperity Foundation (PR Newswire), “Americans for Prosperity Calls Victorious Defeat of Bridge to Nowhere a Testament to the Power of Grassroots Activism”
