The Senate defeated an important amendment yesterday offered by one of our conservative champions, U.S. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT).


U.S. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT)Senator Lee's amendment would devolve the federal highway program to the states, allowing them to keep the vast majority of their gas tax revenues and to make their own transportation infrastructure decisions.

No one who truly believes in limited government would oppose this amendment.

"Under this new system, Americans would no longer have to send significant gas tax revenue to Washington, where politicians, bureaucrats, and lobbyists take their cut before sending it back with strings attached,” Lee said.

It would give states the flexibility to build more roads, bridges, and mass-transit systems at a significantly lower cost.

As a former state Attorney General, I can tell you that states concentrate their federal money in a small number of projects because federal money comes with more regulations, driving up the cost of transportation projects.

And then there's all those unnecessary bike paths and "monuments to me" that senators sneak into federal "highway" bills.

ROLL CALL VOTE

You will be pleased to know that all eight of the senators SCF helped elect voted in favor of Senator Lee's amendment.

Unfortunately, Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) and the Democrats opposed Lee's amendment. And, once again, Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) sided with Reid and urged Republicans to oppose the amendment.

Shouldn't "Republican" senators and their leaders be working to shrink the role of our bankrupt federal government?

Here are the 15 Republicans who voted with the Democrats to keep more power and control in Washington:

John Barrasso (R-WY) (202) 224-6441
Roy Blunt (R-MO) (202) 224-5721
Thad Cochran (R-MS) (202) 224-5054
Susan Collins (R-ME) (202) 224-2523
Mike Enzi (R-WY) (202) 224-3424
Orrin Hatch (R-UT) (202) 224-5251
Dean Heller (R-NV) (202) 224-6244
John Hoeven (R-ND) (202) 224-2551
Mike Johanns (R-NE) (202) 224-4224
Mark Kirk (R-IL) (202) 224-2854
Mitch McConnell (R-KY) (202) 224-2541
Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) (202) 224-6665
Richard Shelby (R-AL) (202) 224-5744
John Thune (R-SD) (202) 224-2321
Roger Wicker (R-MS) (202) 224-6253

* Pat Roberts (R-KS) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) missed the vote.


http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LI...n=2&vote=00246


HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE

Please contact these senators and let them know you're disappointed that they voted against Senator Lee's amendment.

You can also click on the icons above to post comments on their Facebook pages and to share their votes on Twitter.

There is no good reason for Republicans to oppose this conservative amendment. They simply want to control these decisions so they can raise more money from special interests and attend more ribbon cuttings.

Many also want earmarks to return so they can use future highway bills to hand out favors like bike paths and bridges to nowhere.


http://www.senateconservatives.com/?...c7e5a5ed7931f6