[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 96 (Thursday, July 20, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H5495]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          FISCAL MISMANAGEMENT

  (Mr. FLAKE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. FLAKE. Mr. Speaker, last year's highway authorization bill, 
better known as SAFETEA-LU, which brought us the bridge to nowhere, 
seems to be a gift that keeps on giving. It has now cleared the path 
for a program that may set a standard for fiscal mismanagement and 
favoritism by the Federal Government.
  Thanks to changes made to the Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement 
Financing, or RRIF, program in SAFETEA-LU, the administration is 
considering awarding one of the largest loans to a private company in 
the history of the United States. This would be a $2.5 billion loan to 
the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroads, or DM&E, a loan larger 
than the Chrysler bail-out.
  SAFETEA-LU expanded the loan authority of the RRIF program from $3.5 
billion to $35 billion and removed any prohibition on the size of any 
single loan, paving the way for the DM&E loan application.
  If drastically expanding the program's loan authority opened the door 
for DM&E, a handful of other changes to the program all but drive the 
loan application home.
  Mr. Speaker, the RRIF program is on the verge of being used to 
provide a competitive advantage. It is inappropriate for the taxpayers 
to finance it.

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