Background

The "Railroad to Nowhere" is what budget watchdogs have nicknamed a $700 million earmark in pending Senate "emergency" spending legislation that would be used to rip up a fully functioning railroad that was rebuilt (at a cost of nearly $300 million) after Hurricane Katrina destroyed it last year.

A functioning four-lane highway that runs along the Coast would be moved a few blocks north to where the railroad now exists. A pedestrian-friendly "scenic beach boulevard"would be built where the four-lane highway now exists.

Why is Americans for Prosperity Concerned About The $700 Million Railroad to Nowhere Earmark?

In a nutshell, we don't see this project as an "emergency" that should be funded by federal taxpayers in a must-pass emergency spending bill. The emergency spending bill is only supposed to pay for vital military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and for urgent post-Katrina relief efforts. It's not supposed to pay for local economic development projects like this one, which has been on local officials' wish lists for decades. For more information about the concerns Americans for Prosperity members have about this earmark and our efforts to shed light on the issue, please see the items below.

• Americans for Prosperity's May 2 news release calling for the Senate to remove a $500 million earmark for Northrop Grumman from the emergency spending bill
  
• Americans for Prosperity's Apr. 26 statement responding to the Senate's vote to table Sen. Tom Coburn's amendment to kill the $700 million earmark
  
• Americans for Prosperity's Apr. 25 news release applauding President Bush's threat to veto the emergency spending bill if it's too costly or includes non-emergency items
  
• Americans for Prosperity's Apr. 19 news release announcing letter to every U.S. Senator
• Full text of Americans for Prosperity's Apr. 19 letter to every U.S. Senator
• Americans for Prosperity Foundation's Apr. 13 news release announcing the Ending Earmarks Express visit to the Railroad to Nowhere in Gulfport
• Americans for Prosperity Foundation's Apr. 13 post-event blog report (with photos) from the Railroad to Nowhere in Gulfport
• Americans for Prosperity Foundation's Apr. 12 pre-event blog report (with photos) from the Railroad to Nowhere in Gulfport

Articles / Media clips

• Christian Science Monitor, May 2: "Bold bid to cut 'pork' in Congress"
  
• The Hill, May 2: "Spending Hawks are 'making their point, slowly but surely"
  
• Wall Street Journal editorial, April 27, "Mississippi Burning Tax Dollars"
  
• Washington Times, April 27: "35 Senators Vow to Back Spending Veto"
  
• Denver Post editorial, April 27: "D.C. Pigs Back at the Trough"
• Human Events, April 26: "Derail Mississippi's 'Railroad to Nowhere'"
  
• National Review editorial, April 26: "Bridge to November"
  
• Reuters, April 26: "Bush Threatens to Veto Bloated War Spending Bill"
  
• Washington Post editorial, April 26: "The Great Train Robbery, 2006"
  
• Las Vegas Review Journal editorial, April 26: "Highlighting Wasteful Spending"
  
• LA Times, April 25: "Pet Projects Unleash Anger in Republican Ranks"
  
• New York Times, April 25: "New Criticism Falls on Supplemental Bills"
  
• The Hill, April 25: "Supplemental in Conservative Crosshairs"
• Washington Post, April 25: "Rolling Out the Barrel to the Tune of $10 Million"
• Toledo Blade editorial, April 25: "Stop the casino corridor"
  
• UPI, April 25: "Add-ons Imperil US Spending Bill"
  
• Baltimore Sun editorial, April 24: "Railroad to Nowhere"
• USA Today, April 24: "Emergency Spending Bill Spotlights GOP Division"
  
• New York Times editorial, April 23: "Son of the Bridge to Nowhere"
  
• Columnist Tim Chapman, Town Hall, April 20: "The Railroad to Nowhere"
• Daily Oklahoman editorial, April 20: "Congressional Definition Doesn't Fit Emergency"
  
• Christian Science Monitor, April 19: "Flap Over Pet Projects Roils GOP"
• Investors Business Daily editorial, April 19: "All the Livelong Day"
  
• Washington Post, April 18: "Mississippi Senators' Rail Plan Challenged"
• ABC's World News Tonight, April 18: "Pricey Project Off Track?"
• Biloxi Sun-Herald, April 13: "Pork Critics Blast Push for CSX Buyout"
• WLOX-TV, Biloxi, April 13: "Citizens Watchdog Group Criticizes CSX Plan"
• Columnist Robert Novak, April 9, "Railroad to Nowhere?"
• U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn's News Release, April 7
  

Current Legislative Status

The U.S. Senate voted on April 26 to table, or kill, an amendment by Sen. Tom Coburn that would have removed the $700 million Railroad to Nowhere earmark from the Senate's Iraq/Katrina emergency spending bill. The motion to table the Coburn Amendment was narrowly approved, 49-48. To see how each Senator voted on the motion to table the Coburn Amendment, click here. (An "aye" vote is to keep the $700 million earmark in the bill, and a "no" vote is to kill the earmark.

If, as expected, the Senate approves the overall emergency spending bill, it will go to a House-Senate conference committee, where differences between the two versions will have to be ironed out. President Bush has threatened to veto a conference report if it is in excess of his $92.2 billion request or if it includes a lot of non-emergency earmarks like the Railroad to Nowhere. To read President Bush's veto threat, click here.

What Can I Do?

Contact both of your U.S. Senators TODAY and tell them to pull the pork out of the Iraq/Katrina emergency spending bill when it comes to the Senate floor.

Attached below is contact info for every U.S. Senator, organized by state. Find your state's Senators, and tell them that ripping up brand-new railroad tracks is NOT a national emergency that they should spend $700 million of our tax dollars on. If you e-mail your Senators, be sure to cc: us at info@afphq.org.