Even though Ted Stevens (“Tube”) (R-AK) got his $233 milliion dollar “bridge to nowhere” (see nowhere here), he’s still holding a grudge against Tom Coburn (R-OK) for challenging him about it. Tube took a break from trying to sell-out the Internet and placed an indefinite hold on Coburn’s bill, the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (S2590), which would publish a public database of every company who has received federal funding–an effort to expose pork barrel earmarks. The Tube is probably just a bit worried about how many bogus earmarks might get exposed if such a database existed.
Just to give you a sense of how snarky Tubey really is, during the debate over the bridge, according to a Washington Post article, Tube threw a fit and whined,
I will put the Senate on notice — and I don’t kid people — if the Senate decides to discriminate against our state and take money only from our state, I will resign from this body.”
Alas, Senate members got a little misty-eyed at the idea of the Senate without the Tube and gave him his bridge, contributing even more to the greedy state of Alaska, which receives $1.89 in federal help for every tax dollar they sent to Washington.
[UPDATE] Now why did Tube hold up that bill? Wait, I think I better put this in the comedy section. Ted Stevens is concerned about the cost (which is $15 million over the next 4 years (PDF).
Stevens “wanted to make sure that this wasn’t going to be a huge cost to the taxpayer and that it achieves the goal which the bill is meant to achieve” – spokesperson for Tube Stevens
I’m sure Stevens could barely get the words out without laughing and choking on all the pork in his craw. The guy who got over $200 million to build a Golden Gate sized bridge over a little canal of a waterway to an island with 50 people on it is concerned about cost. Perhaps politicians lie so much because they actually think they can get away with stuff like this.