Kentucky Wins Sweet Deal In $2.9 Billion Budget Bill Earmark
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) struck a deal with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Wednesday, averting a potential debt default and reopening the government while leaving the Obamacare virtually untouched, once passed by Congress and signed by the president.
Though the deal comes with concessions from both parties, it also benefits McConnell's home state of Kentucky.
Section 123 of the Senate bill secures $2.918 billion in funding for the Olmsted Lock and Dam Authority for a dam project on the Ohio River being developed by URS Corp., a construction management company. That's a huge boost from the $775 million originally allotted. URS told The Wall Street Journal that the project -- one of the largest taken on by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers -- would halt without more funding.
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R) of Tennessee -- another state benefitting from the project -- said the provision was necessary to preserve $160 million in contracts.
“According to the Army Corps of Engineers, 160 million taxpayer dollars will be wasted because of canceled contracts if this language is not included. Sen. [Dianne] Feinstein and I, as chairman and ranking member of the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, requested this provision. It has already been approved this year by the House and Senate,” Alexander said in a statement to BuzzFeed.
While the earmark is a great deal for McConnell, the funding request reportedly came from President Barack Obama. A McConnell spokesman told The Wall Street Journal that the Senate Appropriations Committee approved the funding earlier this year, and that the request came from the White House.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/16/mitch-mcconnell-budget-deal_n_4111387.html