WASHINGTON, Aug. 11, 2005 - On Wednesday, President Bush signed into law the Transportation Act of 2005, a bill that includes a whopping $286 billion in mandated funding, including more than $20 billion earmarked for pet projects that members of Congress were able to slip in. The bill spans more than 1,000 pages.

The coverage of pet projects that this bill authorizes is as sweeping as it is irresponsible, and many of those projects have nothing to do with transportation. This bill authorizes, for example, the installation of steps and lighting at the Blue Ridge Music Center and the construction of a wildlife refuge in Louisiana. The bill also provides funds for the paving of bike trails, hardly a job for the federal government.

Taxpayers for Common Sense, an organization focused on cutting wasteful government spending, wrote a letter to President Bush urging him to veto the bill. "There are nearly 6500 member-requested projects worth more than $24 billion, nearly nine percent of the total spending," read one portion of the letter. "In addition to driving up the overall cost of the bill, many of these projects are not related to improving our nation's transportation system," read another.

Some notes:

• Article I, Section 8, Clause 7 of the U.S. Constitution gives the federal government authorization to post roads
  
  
• Bill includes funded projects unrelated to the posting of roads
  
  
• Bill originally included more than $400 billion in spending, but final bill was cut to $286
  
  
• Bush said he would veto any bill over $256 billion, a figure that was raised to $284 billion, then finally up to $286