EMERSON PRAISES HIGHWAYS MEASURE

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson can find a lot of good in the new federal highway bill even though she voted against it.

The House passed the final version of the spending bill last week by a vote of 297 to 86. The Senate passed it 88 to 5, with Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond, R-Mo., touting its praises.

Emerson discussed the legislation Tuesday prior to speaking to the Cape Girardeau County Board of Realtors at Drury Lodge in Cape Girardeau. She said the funding bill would benefit Southeast Missouri and the entire state.

Missouri will get $3.7 billion for roads and bridges over the next six years under the measure. The bill contains a 53 percent increase in Missouri's share of federal highway money compared with an average state growth rate of 44 percent.

The $203 billion package constitutes the biggest public works program in the nation's history.

Included in the bill is continued funding for the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge at Cape Girardeau. The new Mississippi River bridge is named after Jo Ann Emerson's late husband, who was the district's longtime congressman.

The legislation includes more than $38 million for four projects in Southeast Missouri: Widening of Highway 60 to four lanes in Carter County, the initial phase of construction of a four-lane divided highway between Kennett and Hayti, widening of Highway 63 to four lanes from Willow Springs to West Plains, and construction of a Highway 60-67 bypass.

The bill also includes $100 million for the Bridge Discretionary Fund. Emerson worked on the House side to secure funding for the program in an effort to repair the nation's deficient bridges.

Missouri ranks sixth in the nation in the number of deficient bridges, according to the Federal Highway Administration.

Emerson voted against the final version of the bill that was worked out by a House and Senate conference committee. She said she couldn't support a $15.5 billion cut over six years in funding for veterans programs to make up for the amount the highway funding exceeds caps set last year in the balanced-budget agreement.

The Cape Girardeau Republican was the sole member of Missouri's congressional delegation to vote against the highway bill.

"While I was happy that the highway bill contained some excellent provisions and projects to make our highways and bridges safer, the thorn in the bill was the ramification for our nation's veterans," she said. "Our nation's veterans have earned their benefits, and I do not believe that it is fair or right to take away a commitment our government made to these veterans, who put their lives on the line so that we might enjoy the freedoms that we have today," said Emerson.

Emerson said she knew the measure, revised by the conference committee, had enough votes to pass. But she said she wasn't sure that it would pass by veto-proof margins. As it turned out, the measure did pass by such a margin.

Emerson said she and national leaders of veterans groups met with House Speaker Newt Gingrich last Wednesday in a last-ditch effort aimed at trying to find a way to protect veterans programs from the budget ax. The congresswoman said she and other lawmakers now are seeking to restore funding for veterans programs. If that occurs, Congress would have to take money from another funding pot to help pay for all the highway projects, Emerson said.

Emerson's chief Democratic challenger, Anthony J. "Tony" Heckemeyer of Sikeston, criticized the highway bill. "This is a budget buster," he said.

An Army veteran, Heckemeyer said Congress wants to cut taxes and spend more money at the same time.

"You can't spend more money each year and tell the people you are fiscally responsible," he said.

Heckemeyer said Emerson wants to take credit for funding for highway projects in the district while at the same time opposing cuts in funding for veterans programs.

"You can't milk a cow and grind that cow for hamburger at the same time and go very far, and that is what she wants to do," Heckemeyer said.

Heckemeyer also opposes cutting funding for veterans' programs.

Leaders of veterans groups criticized Congress for the funding cut. Harry McDonald Jr., national commander of the million-member Disabled American Veterans, said in a written statement: "I find it totally abhorrent that Congress would endorse plundering veterans programs for the benefit of some other politically motivated agenda."

He said Congress has robbed the nation's veterans to pay for pork-barrel highway projects.