Key Vote Alert: Support Coburn Amendment to Kill “Bridge to Nowhere”

FreedomWorks sent this letter to the U.S. Senate this afternoon.

Dear Senator,

On behalf of more than 700,000 FreedomWorks members nation-wide, I write to urge the U.S. Senate to VOTE YES on Senator Tom Coburn’s (R-OK) second degree amendment to S. Amend 2085. This amendment would redirect hundreds of millions of dollars from the transportation bill for bridge building projects in Alaska to rebuilding efforts in Katrina-ravaged areas in the Gulf region.

We encourage the Senate to prioritize spending and support this amendment. Because government finances are not infinite, it must be acknowledged that some projects are more important at this point in time than others. While choosing exactly which project funding should be postponed can be a challenging task, Senator Coburn has identified projects that most reasonable Americans can agree should be placed lower on the priority list than rebuilding the hurricane ravaged part of our county.

The second degree amendment to amendment 2085 would redirect $223 million in earmarks for the Gravina Bridge in Ketchikan, Alaska to instead rebuild the I-10 Twin Spans Bridge over Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana. It would similarly redirect $231 million earmarked for Don Young’s Way in Anchorage, Alaska to the I-10 project in Louisiana.

FreedomWorks will count your vote on the Coburn amendment to redirect bridge funding as a KEY VOTE when calculating the FreedomWorks Economic Scorecard. The FreedomWorks Economic Scorecard is used to determine eligibility for the Jefferson Award, which recognizes Senators with voting records that support economic freedom.

Sincerely,

Matt Kibbe
President and CEO
FreedomWorks