A new House spending bill sets aside money for key West Virginia highway projects, such as the King Coal Highway, the Beckley Intermodal Gateway and the Coalfields Expressway, Rep. Nick Rahall said Thursday.
All of the money targeted is meant to finance highway, safety and transit programs created in the 2005 highway bill.
Others covered by the funding set forth in the budget conference passed by the House are W.Va. 10, the New River Parkway and the Shawnee Parkway. In addition, the conferees agreed to pump $1.8 billion into Amtrak.
But Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., scorned the new Democrat-led spending document as no better than the first one, saying, at best, it reflects the second-largest tax increase in American history.
“This budget sets off a vicious cycle of higher taxes and higher spending which will ultimately lead to even more tax increases,” she said.
In fact, Capito said, the proposed budget will mandate a tax increase of at least $217 billion and includes a trigger that will double the tax bite if budget surpluses fail to materialize. Put simply, she said, if Congress spends too much, taxes automatically will go up.
“Keeping the dirt flying on these (road) projects and the Amtrak engines chugging along are key to the continued economic progress we are seeing in southern West Virginia,” Rahall, D-W.Va., said after the budget was approved. “This is one of the best investments we can make.”
Southern West Virginia lawmakers have been clamoring for more than a year to get the Manchin administration to bump up dormant road projects in their region on its list of highway priorities since none in that area is in the top 10.
Administration officials repeatedly have promised lawmakers they would spend state resources as the required share of the 80-20 match each time federal dollars became available.
Rahall’s announcement contained no dollar amounts that are dedicated to the West Virginia road projects.