Hutchison: Don't toll freeways
Hutchison, joining objections of bipartisan lawmakers in Austin and Washington, said she will "vigorously" block the Texas Department of Transportation from ever levying tolls on federal highways."I intend to immediately introduce as free-standing legislation my amendment that the Senate passed in 2005 to specifically prohibit states from tolling existing interstate highways," the Republican said in a prepared statement.
Earlier this year, Texas transportation officials sent a letter to Congress seeking a change in federal law to let states "buy back" interstate highways and levy tolls on them.
Such a tolling plan, under a state law passed in 2005, would require a vote of county commissioners and local voters.
I've got an even better idea for Senator Hutchison. Currently Texas gets 87 cents back for every dollar we send to DC. That's billions of dollars each year. How about doing something about that?
I'd fully support filibustering every bill in the Senate until Texas gets something closer to a fair deal (especially considering that the sales tax deducation isn't permanent yet, if I recall correctly). If we were getting a fair deal, we probably wouldn't have to choose between difficult answers to the problem.
Posted by Evan @ 09/01/07 07:25 PM
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