dave submitted an article in the Washington Post about a fight in the Senate over the construction of certain bridges under the highway spending plan just passed by Bush. Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma is trying "to eliminate some $450 million in federal funds for Alaskan bridges and shift $75 million to a Louisiana bridge damaged by Hurricane Katrina." On the other hand, Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska "is renowned for winning projects for his state" and the two have clashed over the Alaska projects Stevens had initially gotten passed. One of the notable controversies:

One [example of unwarranted spending], called by critics the "bridge to nowhere," would connect Ketchikan, Alaska, to an island where there is an airport and about 50 people. The highway bill allotted $223 million for that project and $229 million for another bridge near Anchorage.

...37-year Senate veteran Ted Stevens of Alaska told a freshman colleague that he would resign and "be taken out of here on a stretcher" if the Senate killed funding for two Alaskan bridges.