Pa. House votes down transportation spending measure

[onehandle]

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer

HARRISBURG - After months of debate, the state House failed to pass legislation Monday night that would have provided $2.3 billion to complete long-overdue repairs to the state's aging transportation infrastructure.

In a stunning 103-98 vote that teetered between passage and defeat until the last moment of the roll call, lawmakers shot down an amendment to fix thousands of substandard bridges, repave hundreds of miles of crumbling roads, and pump hundreds of millions into modernizing mass transit systems across the state.

To pay for the improvements, the bill would have lifted the cap on the oil-franchise tax - which could increase prices at the gas pump by roughly 27 cents a gallon. The measure also would have increased driver's-license and vehicle-registration fees beginning in 2015, and put a surcharge on speeders and others who violate traffic laws. Of the $2.3 billion to be raised by 2017-18, approximately $1.65 billion would have been dedicated to highways and bridges, and $476 million to $497 million to mass transit.

During a two-hour House debate Monday night, some Republicans criticized the funding measure as raising taxes and spending too much on urban transit systems. "This is a $2.5 billion tax increase," said Rep. Brad Roae (R., Crawford). "We should cut back spending in other areas and fix the bridges and roads."

Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/state/20131119_Roadblock__PA_House_votes_down_transportation_spending_measure.html

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Gosh. Why would Republicans fixate on preventing providing services to people in 'urban' areas?

[Orrex]

1. Excellent!

As a Pennsylvania driver, nothing annoys me more than smooth roads and stable bridges.

[msanthrope]

7. I'm a Philly driver...safe bridges and roads just encourages needless travel and tourism. nt

[Orrex]

9. We're in no danger of that silliness in the Pittsburgh area

Actually, my town has had some excellent repairs to local bridges in the past few years, amounting to all-out replacement of preposterously dangerous structures and thanks almost entirely to Obama's stimulus plan (but my fine county would never vote for that commie socialist president, no sir!)

[msanthrope]

10. Orrex, the next time you cross Pennslytucky, let me know and we'll have a beer. nt

[Orrex]

11. I don't get over that way often

I have family in the Allentown area, but I haven't been there in several years.

Save me a cold one!

[Orsino]

12. If more people are employed, who is going to use all these food stamps?

Think, people!

[KeepItReal]

2. The GOP does not want ANY job creation under President Obama

That's the real political goal with those people.

They are purposefully holding this economy down in order to make the President look bad and somehow generate votes for the GOP.

[alcibiades_mystery]

3. They are going to get hit for this: PENN DOT employs huge numbers in the otherwise unviable

rural areas of PA. It's been a running joke for years in PA that the highways are always under construction. That's because there is zero going on economically in the rural and exurban areas of PA, and transportation infrastructure has filled the gaps left by the industrial factory abandonment of PA.

These reps essentially just voted to stick it to every white, rural male in Pennsylvania. Repeat: the GOP - because of their demented ideology - just voted to fillet their own primary constituency!

Unbelievable.

[atreides1]

4. Yes.

But it really doesn't matter, because that same constituency will keep on voting Republican!

[eggplant]

5. That's just because they have nowhere to store that many orange barrels.

So they have no choice but to store them along all of the highways.

[maddiemom]

6. Good one!

[Dawgs]

8. I blame the South.

[CANDO]

13. The Republicans were attempting to attack prevailing wages with this bill.

Doesn't surprise anyone does it? They are also always looking for opportunities to privatize our state liquor stores, which may or may not be a good thing depending on your viewpoint. It's also a common myth for rural and suburban Repubs to think they support the urbanized centers (Philly, Pitt, Harrbg, Scr/WB, etc) with their tax dollars. In reality, it's the complete opposite scenario. An example would be when they were looking at turning I 80 into a toll road. All the people near the highway looked at it as "their road" and would not stand for it to be tolled to prevent that money from going to Philly to pay for mass transit. I'm serious. These hicks in the northern tier must believe they built all the highways around them with their very own "vast" tax base. The real world knows that most taxes are paid from whence most of the people reside, which is the urban areas. So to all those who live out in the yonder regions, enjoy your infrastructure and thank those who live in the cities, because by and large, "they" paid for it way more than you did.