Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn Adds Amendments To Highway Funding Bill

Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn has filed several amendments to the $109 billion bill reauthorizing federal aid for highways.

One of Coburn's amendments would require a report to Congress of expenditures from the Highway Trust Fund for purposes other than construction and maintenance of highways and bridges.

He says the General Accounting Office reported that from 2004 to 2008, the fund spent $78 billion on unrelated projects.

Another of his amendments would suspend federal employees without pay if they are found to be delinquent on their federal income taxes.

A third amendment would stop subsidizing millionaires for purchasing renewable energy power systems for their homes.

A fourth amendment would reduce what Coburn calls nonessential government travel costs. Coburn says it would reduce the travel budgets of federal agencies by 50 percent for the years 2013 and 2014 and by 25 percent for 2015.

Read Senator Tom Coburn's news release.

If Senate Bill 1813 is approved, the reauthorization would be for 2 years.