The state of California successfully opposed a Gateway project for Northern California. The Republican governor in the state of Maine pulled all state funding for the Gateway project in ME. That's why Susan Collins is seeking the federal funding. Interestingly, the Republicans in South Carolina have been seeking funding for the dredging of the port for their Gateway project, and the bill that Murray has written includes a clause that excludes dredging.
In case some of you haven't been paying attention, the unions in Murray's home state of WA are at war with South Carolina over Boeing jobs.
The project in WA that is being funded by this bill is a coal terminal that will be served by Warren Buffet's BNSF that will bring coal trains up the whole coast of W. WA. to a coal terminal that is to be built in Whatcom County. The players are Goldman Sachs, Warren Buffet and BNSF, CARRIX, Jeffrey Imelt and GE, and Richard Trumka, as head of the AFL-CIO and former head of the United MIne Workers. The owners of the Powder River Basin Coal mines, are another participant, but that is almost a whole other story about crony capitalism.
And Maine gets a few railroad repair miles......
“Free” courtesy of Maine’s repubbie Senator!
And we go into debt one “public works” project at a time ...
No way this passes through the House - it’s fake stimulus.
TIGER and TIGER II handed out cash to solidly Dem districts to prop up longtime Dem members in local media. Not a single Republican district got $1. It’s a compromised and wholly partisan program.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s112-942