Four members of the United States House of Representatives have criticized recent House approval of the 2002 transportation bill (HR 2299, Transportation Appropriations Act). Don Young, (R-AK), Tom Petri (R-WI), James Oberstar (D-MN), and Robert Borski (D-PA) expressed their concern about the funding appropriated in the bill in a letter to other members of Congress.
"Given that the conference report was filed less than two hours before it was brought to the House floor for consideration and the only publicly available copy was incomplete, only a handful of Members had any idea what was in the act," the congressmen stated in the letter. "Today, we write to shine a little light on the Transportation Appropriations Act. We begin with the $423 million unprecedented cut to TEA 21's state highway formula funds."
The congressmen contend that the Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee cut each state's highway formula funds, meaning that each state will find its funds cut by about 10 percent. California loses $38 million, Texas $33 million, New York $21 million, Oregon $5 million, Georgia $15 million, Connecticut $6 million, Arizona $8 million, and Ohio $15 million, according to the letter.