Round 2: Murray wins in earmark battle

WASHINGTON — Two years ago, Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma made headlines when he bewailed the infamous Alaska "Bridge to Nowhere" in a tirade against earmarks.

The bridge to Gravina Island was the pet project of Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, a fellow Republican. But it was Washington Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat, who lambasted Coburn's efforts, led a 86-13 drubbing of his position and saved the bridge.

Coburn was back Tuesday, and this time his target was Murray's own pet, the $106 billion transportation and housing appropriations bill.

It includes $177 million for Washington state, the second-highest amount in projects added by lawmakers. Only New York would get more in so-called earmarks.

In all, the bill includes more than 500 earmarks, totaling about $2 billion, inserted by senators in both parties, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, a budget-watchdog group based in Washington, D.C.

One of the earmarks, credited to Murray, would provide $1.15 million for Seattle's South Lake Union Streetcar. The bill also includes $100 million for Sound Transit's light-rail project.

Tuesday morning, Coburn denounced the measure as a "pork roast" and filed an amendment to the legislation, which Murray had crafted as chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee for Transportation, Housing and Urban Development.

On Tuesday night, Coburn's amendment failed 82-14.

Coburn's quixotic quest concealed a political calculation: His key amendment would have forced a moratorium on earmarks in the overall bill until all the major deficient bridges across the U.S. were repaired and declared safe.

Senators who opposed Coburn would technically have been voting to allow unsafe bridges, which could have made them seem complacent in the wake of last month's collapse of a commuter bridge in downtown Minneapolis. Murray was having none of it.

She took the floor, reminded the senators they were about to hold a moment of silence in memory of Sept. 11, then tore into Coburn.

Noting she had just gotten an extra $1 billion for bridge infrastructure the day before, she said, "Yes, we are all very focused on what happened because of Minnesota."

However, she continued, Coburn's amendment would not just terminate highway projects but "also stop our major transit projects that many senators have come to our committee and talked about."

In 2005, Murray made a memorable speech threatening to cut other senators' earmarks if they supported Coburn's attack on the $223 million Alaska bridge and $500,000 for the Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle.

Tuesday, Murray was more subtle, merely noting that their construction projects across the country would be wiped out. Among the projects in the bill: $575,000 for the Olympic Discovery Trail/Elwha River pedestrian bridge in Clallam County; $2.5 million for interchange work along Interstate 5; and $500,000 for the Rainier Vista Boys & Girls Club in Seattle.

The White House said Monday that President Bush would veto the bill because it spends much more than he proposed.

The Senate debated the bill until late Tuesday, and then Murray and Coburn returned to their offices in the Russell Building, directly across the hall from each other.