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Cincinnati Red and Montana Should Fund Minor-League Stadium Before U.S. Pays, Coburn Says
By Kerry Young
CQ Budget Tracker
September 12, 2007
The city of Billings should hit up surplus-rich Montana or the Cincinnati Reds for money for its new $12.5 million baseball stadium, and spare the deficit-ridden federal government, Oklahoma Republican Tom Coburn said.
The staunch earmark opponent failed yesterday to persuade colleagues to eliminate $500,000 in funding for the stadium from the Senate’s fiscal 2008 Transportation-Department of Housing and Urban Development spending bill.
“The fact is this earmark just funds ‘a want’ for the city of Billings, Montana, not ‘a need’,” Coburn said.
The Senate tabled three Coburn amendments en bloc in a 63-22 vote on Sept. 12, and so preserved earmarked funding for the stadium, a North Dakota tourist attraction and Louisiana wetlands center in the $104.6 billion Transportation-HUD bill. Coburn has argued that the August collapse of a Minneapolis bridge at rush hour shows dramatically why Congress must prioritize its spending, especially in the bill that will fund road maintenance in the year starting Oct. 1. Poor road conditions throughout the United States already contribute to the deaths of more than 13,000 Americans a year, Coburn said, citing the American Society of Civil Engineers.
And, the city of Billings already has funding in place for the stadium, Coburn said. City officials last year approved a bond issue to finance a 3,500-seat stadium. Although also intended for concerts and fairs, the stadium is intended primarily for a minor league team owned by the Cincinnati Reds. Coburn said the team is valued at $307 million, citing a Forbes article, and had $147 million in revenue last year. He also said Montana possessed a state budget surplus of a half billion dollars, while the federal debt is nearing $9 trillion.
“Common sense should prevail that Montana, with free cash to spend, should foot any extra funding, not the deficit and debt ridden U.S. federal government,” Coburn said. “Montana should fund the stadium long before the other 49 states chip in to subsidize a local Montana project.”
Coburn also sought to eliminate $450,000 for upgrading the International Peace Garden in North Dakota. While the garden “may stand as a symbol of the friendship between the United States and Canada and provide a welcoming source of entertainment for tourists, renovation is not essential, especially when it is estimated there are 700,000 homeless persons living in the U.S.,” Coburn said. He wanted the Senate to withhold $400,000 intended for a the wetland center until HUD and FEMA certify to Congress that “all Louisiana residents displaced by hurricanes Katrina or Rita are no longer living in temporary housing.”
Coburn, a 59-year-old doctor, has long fought against congressional earmarks but has rarely succeeded. Last year, however, he teamed with Illinois Democrat Barack Obama on a bill to establish an online database listing recipients of all federal spending so citizens can see where their money goes. That database is to be fully operational by the start of 2008. Coburn won his Senate seat in 2004. He first came to Congress as a member of the House Republican Class of ’94 that constituted the first Republican majority in the House in 40 years.
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