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http://www.chainreactionblogs.com/diary/2012/02/02/amendment-to-save-cycling-funding-fails-in-congress/
Export date: Fri Mar 29 4:52:45 2024 / +0000 GMT

Amendment to save cycling funding fails in Congress


Amendment to save cycling funding failed. Read about it here- 1 (in a nutshell, it's bad, but it's not over)

Warning: Political rant follows! But I think I can sign up people from all sides on this one.

I am saddened not just by the failure of the amendment (making sure a certain amount from the highway funding process goes to cycling infrastructure and Safe Routes to Schools) but also by the nearly-complete partisanship of the vote. Check it out. 100% of the Democrats voted for, joined by only two Republicans brave enough to go against party orders.

Don't get me wrong; this isn't about Republicans behaving badly. If this was an amendment for something favoring business interests being pushed by Republicans, I'm sure we would have seen nearly 100% of the Democrats lined up against it.

This needs to stop. There is no absolute right or wrong on most issues, but every single thing that comes up lately has become a litmus test of whether you're a good Republican or good Democrat serving your party, and not whether you're a good elected official representing your PEOPLE.

The PEOPLE are not being represented in Congress or the Senate these days. Only the polarized battleplans of the two parties. Nobody is interested in a compromise in which they come out with less than they ideally wanted. We've gone nuclear. Literally. But at least with nuclear weapons we understood the dangers and avoided using them, due to the believability of MAD (mutually assured destruction). Everyone loses, so don't start. Right now, everyone is losing. The only people who might think they're winning are those that believe that paralysis is good.  --Mike--
Links:
  1. http://support.railstotrails.org/site/PageServer?p agename=20120202_Petri_amdt_vote_results&autol ogin=true&AddInterest=1481
Post date: 2012-02-02 14:32:07
Post date GMT: 2012-02-02 22:32:07

Post modified date: 2012-02-02 14:37:05
Post modified date GMT: 2012-02-02 22:37:05

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