[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 100 (Tuesday, July 15, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1425]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    MICHIGAN IS GETTING SHORTCHANGED

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                            HON. NICK SMITH

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 15, 1997

  Mr. SMITH of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, as we approach decisions on 
appropriations bills and Federal spending that goes to individual 
States, I am very concerned about a recent study indicating that my 
home State of Michigan is getting shortchanged.
  Michigan ranks in the top 10 in the amount of taxes we pay into the 
Federal Government and at the bottom in terms of the benefits we 
receive in return.
  According to this study by the Northeast-Midwest Institute, Michigan 
ranks 47th in total funds it gets from the Federal Government and deal 
last in the amount it gets per person to repair its roads. Michigan 
citizens have the most to gain if we allow them to keep their tax 
dollars at home rather than sending taxes to Washington.
  Mr. Speaker, for the Record I would like to submit an article written 
by Lisa Zagaroli in this morning's Detroit News on this very issue.


                           (By Lisa Zagaroli)

       Pothole-plagued Michigan ranked dead last in the amount of 
     money per person that the U.S. Transportation Department 
     doled out among states last year, a new report shows.
       ``We've been complaining for a long time about getting 
     ripped off by the federal government and this just confirms 
     that,'' said John Truscott, a spokesman for Gov. John Engler.
       ``We knew we were near the bottom, I didn't know we were at 
     the bottom.''
       The transportation department spent $77 per Michigan 
     resident in the 1996 fiscal year, for a total of $743 
     million, according to the study by the Northeast Midwest 
     Institute, a non-profit policy organization. Engler wants the 
     federal government to give Michigan an additional $200 
     million.
       Michigan's per-capita share of U.S. transportation dollars 
     compares to $879 per capita in sprawling Alaska, $296 in 
     Wyoming and $252 in Montana.
       But the higher dollar amounts weren't reserved for large, 
     sparsely populated states.
       Connecticut, a small state with a third of Michigan's 9.6 
     million population, got $179 per person. New Jersey, which 
     has 8 million residents, got $148 per person from the federal 
     agency that funds roads, bridges and other transportation 
     projects.
       Rep. James Barcia, D-Bay City, said he, too, was surprised 
     that Michigan ranked dead last despite the ``pitiful shape'' 
     of its roads.
       ``This underscores the need to work together in a 
     bipartisan fashion to make sure Michigan gets a fair 
     return,'' he said.
       Barcia sits on the House committee that is rewriting the 
     funding formula for transportation dollars. Michigan 
     currently is a ``donor state''--paying more in federal gas 
     taxes than it gets back.
       Michigan ranked third from the bottom in overall spending 
     by the federal government, about the same as it has in the 
     last several years.
       The state received $4,131 per capita in federal spending, 
     only 81 percent of the national rate, or $941 less per 
     person, the report said.
       ``This is one of the reasons we are so big into block 
     grants, so we can figure out where our tax dollars are spent 
     instead of some federal bureaucrats,'' Truscott said.

     

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