"The Rug" Lott (R-Porky) Complains

Heh.

Trent Lott, fresh from a cheerleading seminar, on you pesky taxpayers:

"I'll just say this about the so-called porkbusters. I'm getting damn tired of hearing from them. They have been nothing but trouble ever since Katrina. We in Mississippi have not asked for more than we deserve. We've been very reasonable."

This has to do with a Trent Lott-supported highway building program (sounds vaguely familiar, eh, John Gard?)...

Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, the Republican from Mississippi, has had it to here with Porkbusters and other critics of pork barrel spending like Sen. Tom Coburn, R-OK, who think the federal government has better things to do with $700 million of the taxpayers money than tear up a just-repaired coastal rail line and replace it with a new highway.

Nearly $300 million worth of repairs to the line were just completed in January, financed by CSX Railroad and its insurance company. No word yet on how CSX or its insurance company feel about the plan favored by Lott and his fellow Mississippi Republican Senator Thad Cochran to tear up the tracks and replace them with a highway to serve the heavily populated coastal region.

While a measly $700MM falls short of the "real money" threshold ($1BN) as defined by an Illinois Senator, it's still quite a piece of change.

HT: Captain's Quarters