In July, Congress passed a massive highway-transportation bill. How big was it? It was so big -- a $295 billion package -- that Congress managed to cram in $24 billion in pet projects that have little or nothing to do with transportation. There are more than 6,300 such pet projects in the bill, designed to curry favor with the voters back home.

Several nonpartisan watchdog groups, including the Taxpayers for Common Sense, have called for President George W. Bush to veto it, saying it "leaves the nation stuck in gridlock, but greases the wheels of powerful politicians."

Bush signed it while gushing that "our economy depends on us having the most efficient, reliable transportation system in the world."

Never mind that the bill includes $200 million for a bridge to connect Gravina Island (population 50), which houses the airport for Ketchikan, Alaska (population 14,500). Or $6 million to cover up graffiti in New York. Or $189,000 for an initial payment for constructing a replica slave ship, expected to cost about $4 million, at the U.S. National Slavery Museum in Fredricksburg, Va. Or $1.2 million for lighting and steps at the Blue Ridge Music Center.

Then along came Hurricane Katrina.

EMERGENCY NEEDS

The administration has requested, and Congress has already approved, more than $62 billion to rebuild New Orleans, with Bush saying new taxes won't be used. The funds will come from reductions in other programs.

That sent some senators and representatives scurrying to throw their bodies over the transportation package. With massive program cuts needed to pay to rebuild from Hurricane Katrina -- and now Hurricane Rita -- surely the lard brick known as the highway act would be among the possibilities for cuts.

Nope. House Majority Leader Tom Delay said it's "highly unlikely" that the bill will be revisited.

Congress should not "reopen the highway-transportation bill," given its "impact on jobs, safety and vital infrastructure," said Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, who described himself as "supporting reduction in federal spending, and eliminating waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government."

Did we mention that the bill includes an income tax credit for wholesalers of distilled spirits? Or that there is also a cap on excise taxes for certain fishing equipment? And did we forget the tax exemptions the act contains for certain sightseeing flights and seaplanes?

All part of the "vital infrastructure," as defined by Diaz-Balart.

POLITICS IS LOCAL

Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., isn't about to give up any of his pork projects. Robert L. Traynham, a spokesman for Santorum, told The Philadelphia Inquirer that the senator believes the state's "critical infrastructure needs are vital to Pennsylvania's economy and homeland security."

According to the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste, another taxpayers' group that decried the highway bill, Santorum's pet projects included in it are:

# $300,000 for complete heritage tourism work plans for communities along State Road 6.

# $2 million to build an intermodal center at the Philadelphia Zoo.

# $1.6 million in street improvements for Abington Township.

# $750,000 for road improvements and upgrades related to the Pennsylvania State Baseball Stadium.

Those are the projects that are too important to the Pennsylvania economy and homeland security to be delayed, or to take a backseat to reducing the federal deficit.

Not all members of Congress are so selfish about their transportation projects. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, said she'd be willing to give up $70 million of the $120 million in projects for her district included in the highway bill, now that the money is needed elsewhere. (The remaining $50 million would be used to protect the span of the Golden Gate Bridge from earthquakes.)

Even constituents back home are trying to get their representatives to redirect the pork being sent their way. In Bozeman, Mont., a citizens' group has petitioned its congressional delegation to rescind the $4 million the city obtained for a parking garage.

NATIONAL DEBT

Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., a leading House conservative, said he would give up his $16 million in highway-bill earmarks to help pay Katrina's costs.

"House conservatives, like every American, are committed to doing everything necessary for the families in the communities affected by this horrific storm," he said on an ABC news program recently. "But we simply cannot break the bank of the federal budget that is currently running about an $8 trillion national debt -- about $26,000 per family. So we've got to talk about big-ticket items."

Pence is leading a group of about 110 conservatives that set forth Operation Offset, a list of more than 120 ideas to save $102 billion next year.

Some aren't going to be popular, including one to delay the universal Medicare prescription-drug benefit, and focus it exclusively on low-income seniors who can't afford drug insurance.

Steve Ellis, vice president of programs at Taxpayers for Common Sense, said that none of the spending-redirection plans are perfect, "but they are a good start. Operation Offset, for example, steers away from cutting Cold War weapon systems at the Department of Defense. Military spending is already half of all discretionary spending, so it is not time to take any of the nation's budgetary choices off the table. Literally, we need to count all the federal dollars hiding in every agency couch cushion or we will never come up with the money to offset the Katrina costs."

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham is one Republican who isn't in denial about the party's inability to deal with the budget and deficit. "I've been a Republican for 11 years, and we're failing when it comes to controlling spending," Graham said on "Fox News Sunday" last week. "The transportation and the energy bill would have been a good place to go back and revisit for some of the spending that occurred there."

Those are two big couch cushions in anybody's book.

Commentary:
One quick point. When the economy hums, revenue goes up and we have surpluses and we don't need spending cuts. However, when Congress passes tax cuts instead of paying for what they spend we get massive deficits. The era of big government ended in the 90's - for about six months, now the era of tax cuts has to come to an end - for the rest of time.

I have nothing against spending cuts, but I'm also realistic - they never happen. Since we can't control spending, we have to increase revenue and the only way to do that is to stop congress from passing tax cuts.