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“WHY WOULD THE PRESIDENT SHUT THE GOVERNMENT DOWN OVER A ROAD BYPASS IN SOUTHERN OHIO?” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Transportation was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H11689-H11690 on Oct. 20, 1998.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
WHY WOULD THE PRESIDENT SHUT THE GOVERNMENT DOWN OVER A ROAD BYPASS IN
SOUTHERN OHIO?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Burr) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. BURR of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I knew the administration was throwing its weight around on the budget agreement, but I simply could not believe it when I read in yesterday's USA Today that the President of the United States was willing to shut the Federal Government down over a road bypass in the State of Ohio.
So I tried to find out what all the fuss was about. I learned that there was a provision in the Omnibus budget bill that would have helped southern Ohio leverage existing State and Federal dollars, and I stress, existing, to fund six high-priority Appalachian Ohio projects. Even better, the so-called highway redesignation did not cost one dime more. We are talking about no money involved in this provision.
Then I find out that this particular highway provision has the full support of the Ohio Governor, George Voinovich; the Ohio Department of Transportation; local elected officials in 30 community and business groups across southern Ohio. So I asked myself, why was the White House willing to shut the Federal Government down on a highway designation that helped southern Ohio?
Apparently, Mr. Speaker, the White House has a political reason for opposing this small highway provision and threatening a government shutdown. I have a copy here of the actual letter from Erskine Bowles, the Chief of Staff of the President, to our Speaker stating pointblank that the President would shut down the government over this one small Ohio highway provision.
Mr. Speaker, I just cannot understand why this White House is willing to play such high-stakes political hardball over a simple Ohio bypass.
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