EMERSON, HECKEMEYER DEBATE BILL

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson and Democratic challenger Anthony J. "Tony" Heckemeyer are at odds over the new federal highway bill.

Emerson, a Cape Girardeau Republican, said the six-year, $217 billion spending bill would benefit Missouri and her district.

Heckemeyer, a former circuit judge from Sikeston, views the highway bill as a pork-barrel measure of the worst kind.

"You are going to have more pork stashed in that bill than we have had in years," Heckemeyer said Wednesday afternoon.

Heckemeyer's comments came on the heels of Emerson's conference call to reporters in advance of the scheduled House vote on the highway bill.

The House bill would return to Missouri 95 cents of every dollar in federal gas taxes paid by the state's motorists. The Senate version provides a return of about 92 cents, Emerson said.

The final figure will be determined in conference committee. But Emerson said she expects Missouri will receive a return of at least 92 cents, well above the 80-cent return that the state currently receives.

"Quite frankly, for rural America this is a very, very good piece of legislation," the Cape Girardeau Republican said.

Fiscal conservatives in the House have criticized the bill's inclusion of more than $9 billion for 1,463 projects that individual lawmakers requested for their districts.

But Emerson defended the inclusion of the projects, including four in her district.

The bill includes $51 million for the widening of Highway 60 to four lanes between Ellsinore and Van Buren, and $8 million each for a four-lane divided highway between Kennett and Hayti, a bypass between highways 60 and 67, and the widening of Highway 63 to four lanes between Willow Springs and West Plains.

The bill also includes funding to improve bridges in Southeast Missouri to withstand earthquakes.

Emerson said she consulted with the Missouri Department of Transportation before putting the southern Missouri highway projects in the bill.

But Heckemeyer said Missouri intended to proceed with those road projects even if they weren't specifically mentioned in the highway bill.

Heckemeyer favors the approach of House Budget Committee Chairman John Kasich, R-Ohio, who wants to turn the federal trust fund over to the states.

"Kasich is right. Jo Ann Emerson is wrong," Heckemeyer said.