More of the same

Last month, House of Representative Members John Boehner (from Ohio) and Eric Cantor sent the President a letter requesting the elimination of several federal programs in a supposed effort to save taxpayers money. The funny thing about Boehner is that he is always quick to vilify any spending or tax credit that promotes cycling, yet he has no problem with spending lots of federal money on highways and roads (from which his suburban/exurban Cincinnati district greatly benefits).

The letter is here.

Two money quotes from the letter:

Terminate Safe Routes To Schools Program
Created only in 2005, the Federal “Safe Routes to Schools Program” finances what have traditionally been viewed as local responsibilities, namely financing sidewalks and bike paths, crossing guards and other infrastructure and non-infrastructure projects to assist children who walk or bike to school. Returning these responsibilities to state and local officials would save taxpayers $183 million a year or $915 million over five years.

Sidewalks....the bane of every red blooded American.

Here is another one:

Terminate Federal Transportation Funding For “Non-Motorized” Transportation Projects
The Federal government is currently spending $25 million a year to fund four Non-motorized Transportation Pilot programs. This program is designed to fund a network of “non-motorized transportation infrastructure facilities” to encourage residents to walk or bike rather than using a car. Refocusing Federal resources on transportation projects with a federal nexus would save taxpayers $125 million over five years.

For comparison sake, $25 million, the cost of the entire program for one year, buys about 1/13 of one one single F-22 Raptor Fighter Jet.

Priorities.