Obama's Budget Cancels Senator Byrd Priority

(MoneyWatch)  Over the last fifty years or so Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) has become the king of pork. He has rained funding on his state for institutes, facilities and roads. Especially roads, to the point of excess where large divided highways end at the Virgina border and become two lane country roads.

One of the most recent road programs that Byrd has been pushing in West Virginia is Corridor H. This highway will connect I-79 at Weston, WV to Virginia near Wardensville, WV. In the 2010 budget submitted by Obama yesterday the most recent piece of funding has been canceled. The rationale given by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is that it is "duplicative of other funding."

Senator Byrd of course has already responded saying that this road network is "one of my highest priorities throughout my career." He also says, as Congressman Murtha did recently when questioned about earmarks, "Congress that has the power of the purse. And it is this senator's intention to ensure that funding for Corridor H stays in the purse."

Unfortunately with all of the various cuts proposed by Obama in yesterday's budget there will be individual Congressmen and Senators willing to keep funding them. Just about every program that the Federal government created has a sponsor of some sort or another, so unless the House and Senate leadership can overrule in Committee or on the Floor a great deal of these programs may end up back in the budget by October.

Of course $17 billion out of $3.5 trillion is really nothing to crow about. Some people want bigger cuts, and some want none at all. That is why we have a legislative process and really why the Federal budget keeps just growing.

Map from Google Maps.