Spending on the nation’s infrastructure

Remember all the campaign fuss surrounding the expression "lipstick on a pig"? President-elect Barack Obama is prepared to apply the red stuff to the kisser of a familiar oinker and call it an "economic stimulus."

Mr. Obama believes pouring $136 billion into highway, bridge, airport and school construction will quickly put hundreds of thousands of Americans to work and provide the modern infrastructure needed for future economic growth. Most of the nation's governors, dealing with budget deficits and long lists of unfunded capital projects, are behind the plan -- as long as genuine needs are addressed and work can begin quickly.

But a funny thing happens when Congress gets its hands on billions of dollars for redistribution to the states: Federal lawmakers turn into piggies and race squealing to the trough.

Of all the pork-laden legislation to come out of Washington over the past few decades, highway and transportation bills typically have jiggled with the most fat. Goodies are handed out based on juice and clout, not the suffering of commuters or the run-down condition of outdated roads.

So Mr. Obama will have to excuse some governors for being skeptical that Congress is capable of change -- especially when Mr. Obama indulged in billions of dollars worth of earmarks during his limited time in the Senate.

"The problem is going to be deciding in a rational and targeted way how to spend that money," Democratic Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine told The Washington Post. "We all know about the bridges to nowhere. But we also know the projects that are critical to moving people around."

Washington could have made the country's infrastructure a priority years ago. But now that the economy is swirling in the toilet and Congress has piled an additional $1 trillion onto the national debt, Mr. Obama and Congress appear to be taking the approach of a beleaguered Christmas shopper. The budget was blown long ago, so why not throw a few more big-ticket items on the plastic? Hey, it will make someone happy.

The construction industry, which has been ravaged by the recession, certainly could use the boost. More than 1 million of the nation's newly unemployed are home builders, steel and iron workers and highway contractors.

And every driver knows there are plenty of highways that need widening and resurfacing. Interstate 15, which runs past the Las Vegas Strip, still needs billions of dollars worth of improvements in Nevada.

No doubt, there are plenty of people in the U.S. Department of Transportation who could tell Mr. Obama right now, in order, the country's most pressing infrastructure needs.

If this bill is to come close to having its intended effect, members of Congress will have to set aside their own selfish interests and defer to the people paid to evaluate and prioritize projects.

But the bigger obstacle to this bill is the years of environmental reviews that are required for every federal project. Precious few states have road and bridge work that's ready to start because of the tedious, expensive and litigious nature of the studies.

If Mr. Obama and the Democratic Congress are serious about providing an immediate jolt to the economy, they can make all those ridiculous reviews go away with a few sentences of legislation, declaring all projects funded by the bill meet the standards of all environmental laws. Congress did just that for part of a new barrier on the Mexican border.

Otherwise, no amount of lipstick will disguise this swine.