Paying Katrina's bills

ROBERT W. DALTON, Staff Writer

South Carolina's Republican senators said Wednesday that Congress should dump $27 billion in pet projects and delay the start of the Medicare prescription drug plan to help offset the costs of rebuilding the areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

"This national crisis gives Congress the opportunity to refocus on setting better priorities for spending taxpayer dollars," said Sen. Lindsey Graham.

Some estimates put the Katrina recovery costs at more than $200 billion. Graham said it wouldn't be fair to borrow the money and "send the bill to future generations."

"With a $2.4 trillion budget we can go back and rearrange and reapply some money to Katrina. We can do the same thing that businesses and families do every day."

The $286.4 billion federal highway bill approved in July contained about $27 billion in earmarks -- the pet projects that members of Congress include in bills. Some of those projects include hiking, bicycling and horseback-riding trails; parking garages; and a museum expansion.

Hub City Connector

South Carolina received $2.9 billion in earmarks. Spartanburg County gets its share of that, with $6.8 million set aside to expand Highway 9 from Rainbow Lake Road to Highway 292 and $800,000 for the Hub City Connector -- a trail that will run through the city of Spartanburg.

Some members of Congress have said they would be willing to give back a portion of the money that they included in the bill for their districts.

Graham said he has a better idea.

"Put everybody in the same boat

and do away with the earmarks," he said.

Sen. Jim DeMint agreed. He said that as a smaller state, South Carolina could come up a loser if Congress were to choose which projects retained funding.

Delaying the Medicare prescription drug benefit -- scheduled to begin next year -- would contribute about $40 million to Katrina recovery. Reducing discretionary spending would save "several" billion more," Graham said.

DeMint said a budget resolution to stop the growth in government spending would produce $36 million a year in savings. He also said it's crucial to make sure federal money goes to appropriate projects in the rebuilding effort.

"We've got to spend a lot smarter and focus on what the federal role should be," DeMint said. "That's highways, bridges and buildings."

DeMint said Congress should then extend incentives to private developers to rebuild the communities.

U.S. Rep. Bob Inglis said the talk around the House on Wednesday centered on an attempt to restore the $68 billion in mandatory spending reductions called for in its budget resolution. The Senate version included $14 billion in spending cuts and a conference committee settled on $37 billion, Inglis said.

"The difference ($31 billion) isn't enough to pay for Katrina, but it is a substantial amount," said Inglis, R-Greenville. "It shows a clear commitment and it shows that the discussion is going in the right direction."

Inglis said that instead of killing the earmarks, he prefers a plan being floated by Rep. Ron Lewis of Kentucky to delay them, including all of the highway earmarks, for a year.

"In my opinion that's a workable solution," Inglis said. "Whether there are 218 votes for that is another matter."

Inglis also broke ranks with Majority Leader Tom DeLay and said he supports delaying the Medicare prescription plan. DeLay has said that delaying the benefit is not an option.

Yon Lambert, assistant director of the Palmetto Conservation Foundation, said paying for Katrina is "incredibly important," but he would be disappointed if the appropriation were pulled for the Hub City Connector.

"We are committed to working on the connector and improving pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure in Spartanburg," Lambert said. "That money was and is very important to us. We'll never give up on it."

Graham said he knows that some of the choices are going to be painful, but that sacrifices must be made.

"There's no way we can solve the problems this hurricane caused without sacrifice," he said.

Robert W. Dalton can be reached at 562-7274 or bob.dalton@shj.com.