By ,
Published January 14, 2015
The road to hell may be paved with good intentions, but the road to re-election is sometimes paved with asphalt and the ability to get those roads built back home.
The Senate recently passed a $318 billion bill for a new roads project, and the House of Representatives is poised to take up its bipartisan highway bill (search), which calls for even more spending. Members say they are basing their $375 billion package on recommendations from the Department of Transportation (search).
House members say the extra spending will be paid for with a highway user fee — in other words, an increase in the gas tax.
But President Bush and a few congressional members say taxpayers can't afford congressional road-building exuberance. Bush has suggested a more modest $256 billion bill. He's threatening to throw up a "roadblock" to a pending highway bill in the form of a presidential veto, the president's first.
But Bush may learn that it's unwise to get between a lawmaker and asphalt because he may get run over. The Senate bill passed with a margin wide enough to override a presidential veto.
Click here to watch a report by Fox News' Brian Wilson.
https://www.foxnews.com/story/highway-bill-has-wide-support