Senate vote preserves ‘maglev’ earmark
WASHINGTON -- The Senate on Wednesday turned aside an amendment that tried to eliminate earmarks from a highway bill, including $45 million to support a magnetic levitation train project in Las Vegas.
Senators voted 78-18 to defend the bill that was supposed to fix minor technical errors in a highway bill Congress passed three years ago.
The bill has sparked major debate over spending and gasoline taxes among other issues.
Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., argued the bill contained hundreds of additions or changes to earmarks.
In offering the amendment to erase the funding, DeMint singled out for criticism money to perform environmental studies on a proposed "maglev" train route between Las Vegas and Anaheim, Calif.
Private investors and officials from the two states say are exploring high speed train service as possible relief for congestion along Interstate 15.
The effort is supported by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
Reid argued the money was authorized by Congress in a 2005 highway bill but a bill drafting error has frozen the funds. The new bill merely fixes the mistake, he said.
But DeMint argued the maglev project needed to be examined anew since a private consortium, Desert XPress, now proposes to build a high speed rail line between Las Vegas and Victorville, Calif., without taxpayer funding.
Reid and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., voted to kill the DeMint amendment. Senate debate on the bill was scheduled to continue today.
Besides maglev, the bill contains other Nevada provisions, according to the offices of Reid and Ensign.
It directs $2 million in unspent funds to the Southern Nevada Regional Transportation Commission.
It also would allow White Pine County to use $2 million in previously approved funds to buy rights of way for the historic Northern Nevada railroad in Ely.
The bill also would allow the Lake Tahoe Metropolitan Planning Organization access to a small percentage of federal highway funds to carry out restoration and environmental protections in the Tahoe basin.
Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@ stephensmedia.com or 202-783-1760.
