Cheaper gas or pork projects -- the choice for House GOP members
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Cheaper gas or pork projects -- the choice for House GOP members

Posted by JP on Tue, 05/20/2008 - 16:58

On Tuesday morning, House Republican lawmakers gathered in a Capitol news conference room to demand the state's sales tax on gasoline be removed to help working families cope with $4-a-gallon gas.

On Tuesday afternoon, former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, a Plano Republican, appeared in the same news conference room to announce a proposal that would finance $31 billion worth of road construction that numerous lawmakers on both sides of the Illinois Capitol aisle have been clamoring for.

The catch?

Hastert's plan uses that gasoline sales tax money as the financial backing for the borrowing needed for such a massive undertaking.

So, now those House Republicans face this choice: help local motorists, or get credit for big new construction projects with grand ribbon-cutting ceremonies.

Which do you think will win out?

Update
Just bumped into a spokesman for the House Republicans.
"We're for capital," he said.
For those non-insider types, capital is Capitol-speak for construction projects.