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State Representative Tom Hackbarth
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-2439
For more information contact: Austin Bleess 651-296-5529
NEWS COLUMN
WHAT HAPPENED TO PRIORITIZATION?
By Tom Hackbarth
State Representative
With the collapse of the 35W Bridge many people have been saying we need to invest in our roads and bridges. I whole heartedly agree we need to invest in transportation. We all travel on the roads and many of us cross a bridge on our way to work, school, or the grocery store.
Funding transportation is important. Let’s fund it by prioritizing. Currently transportation receives 0.7% of the entire state budget. That’s only $249 million. We can thank the Democrats, who control both chambers of the legislature, for that stunningly low number.
Health and Human Services (HHS) on the other hand receives 28.1% of the budget. To put that into a dollar amount it’s about $9.695 billion, or nearly 39 times more than the transportation budget. The HHS budget this year is more than $1.4 billion above the HHS budget of the previous biennium.
Much of this increase in spending is due to the welfare rollbacks that the Democrats put into place. Instead of investing into transportation they would rather give government handouts, and keep people on the welfare rolls. That should never be the goal of government.
House Republicans offered a plan that would have infused more money into transportation. It would have bonded for $1.7 billion to go to transportation projects around the state. We could improve many of the roads and bridges around Minnesota with the over $4 billion transportation funding package the House Republicans offered, as their commitment to transportation funding.
Looking back you can see that House Republicans funded transportation as a priority without raising the gas tax. In 2006 House Republicans provided $52.5 million for local bridge replacement, and in 2005 it was $40 million. House Republicans bonded for $15.3 million in local road improvements in 2006. Democrats refuse to bond for any money to invest in transportation.
From 2000 thru 2006, when House Republicans were in control, total money spent on construction was $4,366,177,783. House Republicans lead the charge on transportation funding. We know how to invest in our roads and bridges. In 2003 we put $1.4 billion into 211 projects; in 2004 it was $900 million for 190 projects; 2005 saw $1.7 billion with 200 projects; and 2006 included $1.5 billion for 170 projects. House Republicans invested in transportation without raising taxes, but yet the Democrats appear unable to do the same.
Now there are talks about a special session with the main purpose of raising the gas tax. It upsets me that so many people are using a tragedy as a way to take more money from the average citizen by raising taxes. It seems that some politicians are using this tragedy for their own political gain and to appease their own selfish desire to dig deeper into our wallets.
What happened to the government prioritizing its spending on what the state truly needed? The state needs to live like the family does and prioritize its spending. It cannot keep digging further into the wallets of its hardworking citizens. If we get government back to its basic duties we can fund everything that is needed, without raising taxes.
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