U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers delivered a "little present" to Capital Area Transportation Authority officials Wednesday at their administrative facility.
It turns out the present, an oversized check for $1 million, wasn't so little. CATA employees brought the check in on a forklift.
The money was earmarked in the 2003 federal transportation budget at Rogers' request. But Rogers, R-Brighton, said he didn't want to take credit for providing the money.
"It's about all the employees at CATA that made it an easy pitch back at Washington, D.C.," he said.
The money will be used to fund the first phase of CATA's maintenance expansion. The expansion includes the addition of two work bays to accommodate four new 60-foot buses, a larger bus wash area and three more work bays for maintenance on smaller buses.
"We need to do some renovation work here in order to handle bigger buses," said Sandy Draggoo, executive director of CATA.
Although the earmarked money will help CATA update its maintenance facilities, President Bush has expressed his opposition to earmarks in the federal budget.
"Earmarks are increasingly a problem from both parties," Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer said in a White House press briefing Tuesday. "And it is a point of difference between the White House and the Congress.
"We will continue to work to eliminate and reduce the earmarks wherever possible."
Citizens Against Government Waste, a government spending watchdog group, listed the $1 million Rogers requested for CATA as a "pork project," or an inefficient use of government money.
"We're trying to make people aware of how their tax dollars are being spent," said Mark Carpenter, a spokesman for the organization.
Carpenter said $22.5 billion was put into pork projects this year, the most money the organization has ever recorded.
But Elizabeth Boyd, spokeswoman for Gov. Jennifer Granholm, said Michigan gives more money to the federal government than it gets back.
"Michigan continues to be a donor state, and the governor would like to see more federal dollars coming back to Michigan for transportation," she said.
Rep. Michael Murphy, D-Lansing, said while he commends Rogers for delivering $1 million to CATA, more funding from the federal government is needed for other parts of Michigan's transportation infrastructure.
"We want to see more dollars returned to Michigan for Michigan's roads," he said. "The need is great."
In addition to road repair, Murphy said the state needs money to improve its bridges and public transportation systems, such as CATA.
