Texas Senator John Cornyn was one of a handful of U.S. Senators to vote against three separate servings of pork.

porkFirst, he was among 14 Senators who voted for an amendment to the transportation funding bill to stop any further pork projects before deficient bridges are repaired. Then he was one of the 18 Senators to vote against federal funding of bike paths. Bike paths are a local responsibility and, furthermore, most for recreational purposes not transportation. Federal transportation funding should focus on the interstate highway system, not the latest fads.

Finally, Senator Cornyn was among the 32 Senators who voted to strip egregious earmarks of $500,000 for a new baseball stadium in Montana, $450,000 for the International Peace Garden in North Dakota, and $400,000 to construct a “Discovery Center” for tourists in Louisiana. There appears below a more detailed summary of each of these votes.

Texas taxpayers can be proud of Senator Cornyn’s leadership on spending discipline, but it’s unfortunate that the majority of his colleagues in Congress have still not gotten the message that the American people want a stop to wasteful spending and a return to fiscal responsibility.

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Three little pork projects – totaling “only” about $1.3 million – were spared yesterday by the United States Senate. Below is a vote tally on the pork amendment and two others which sought to restrain Congressional pork projects in favor of repairing deficient bridges. All three votes were to table, or kill, the amendment being debated. So a “YEA” vote is a bad vote.

Amendment 2810 would have prohibited spending on pork projects until all deficient roads and bridges are repaired. A “YEA” vote was a vote to fund pork projects rather than bridges. Here are the names of the 14 senators who voted “NO.”

Barrasso (R-WY)
Burr (R-NC)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
DeMint (R-SC)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Feingold (D-WI)
Grassley (R-IA)
Isakson (R-GA)
Kyl (R-AZ)
McCaskill (D-MO)

Amendment 2811 would have prohibited spending federal transportation funds on bike paths. A “YEA” vote was a vote to build bike paths with federal transportation dollars instead of repairing bridges with that money. Here are the names of the 18 senators who voted “NO.”

Allard (R-CO)
Bennett (R-UT)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Lott (R-MS)
Martinez (R-FL)
Sessions (R-AL)
Vitter (R-LA)

And finally, Amendment 2812 would have stripped three earmarks from the bill: $500,000 for a new baseball stadium in Montana, $450,000 for the International Peace Garden in North Dakota, and $400,000 to construct a “Discovery Center” for tourists in Louisiana. A “YEA” vote was a vote to fund all three pork projects. Here’s the list of the 32 senators who voted “NO.”

Allard (R-CO)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Bayh (D-IN)
Bennett (R-UT)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Coleman (R-MN)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Graham (R-SC)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hagel (R-NE)
Hatch (R-UT)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Lott (R-MS)
Lugar (R-IN)
Martinez (R-FL)
Roberts (R-KS)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Sununu (R-NH)
Thune (R-SD)

 

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