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“MICHIGAN IS GETTING SHORTCHANGED” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Transportation was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1425 on July 15, 1997.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
MICHIGAN IS GETTING SHORTCHANGED
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HON. NICK SMITH
of michigan
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, July 15, 1997
Mr. SMITH of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, as we approach decisions on appropriations bills and Federal spending that goes to individual States, I am very concerned about a recent study indicating that my home State of Michigan is getting shortchanged.
Michigan ranks in the top 10 in the amount of taxes we pay into the Federal Government and at the bottom in terms of the benefits we receive in return.
According to this study by the Northeast-Midwest Institute, Michigan ranks 47th in total funds it gets from the Federal Government and deal last in the amount it gets per person to repair its roads. Michigan citizens have the most to gain if we allow them to keep their tax dollars at home rather than sending taxes to Washington.
Mr. Speaker, for the Record I would like to submit an article written by Lisa Zagaroli in this morning's Detroit News on this very issue.
(By Lisa Zagaroli)
Pothole-plagued Michigan ranked dead last in the amount of money per person that the U.S. Transportation Department doled out among states last year, a new report shows.
``We've been complaining for a long time about getting ripped off by the federal government and this just confirms that,'' said John Truscott, a spokesman for Gov. John Engler.
``We knew we were near the bottom, I didn't know we were at the bottom.''
The transportation department spent $77 per Michigan resident in the 1996 fiscal year, for a total of $743 million, according to the study by the Northeast Midwest Institute, a non-profit policy organization. Engler wants the federal government to give Michigan an additional $200 million.
Michigan's per-capita share of U.S. transportation dollars compares to $879 per capita in sprawling Alaska, $296 in Wyoming and $252 in Montana.
But the higher dollar amounts weren't reserved for large, sparsely populated states.
Connecticut, a small state with a third of Michigan's 9.6 million population, got $179 per person. New Jersey, which has 8 million residents, got $148 per person from the federal agency that funds roads, bridges and other transportation projects.
Rep. James Barcia, D-Bay City, said he, too, was surprised that Michigan ranked dead last despite the ``pitiful shape'' of its roads.
``This underscores the need to work together in a bipartisan fashion to make sure Michigan gets a fair return,'' he said.
Barcia sits on the House committee that is rewriting the funding formula for transportation dollars. Michigan currently is a ``donor state''--paying more in federal gas taxes than it gets back.
Michigan ranked third from the bottom in overall spending by the federal government, about the same as it has in the last several years.
The state received $4,131 per capita in federal spending, only 81 percent of the national rate, or $941 less per person, the report said.
``This is one of the reasons we are so big into block grants, so we can figure out where our tax dollars are spent instead of some federal bureaucrats,'' Truscott said.
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