Young Defends Coconut Road Earmark, Supports Justice Department Investigation
Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), who chaired the House committee overseeing roadways when Republicans controlled Congress, defended himself on Wednesday from a Senate measure the House is expected to approve calling on the Justice Department to investigate an earmark his staff inserted into a massive transportation bill in 2005.
A New York Times story linked Young's support for this road spur in Florida to a local real estate developer who helped raise $40,000 for the congressman's reelection efforts. Young's staff has acknowledged changing language in the nearly $300 billion highway construction package after both chambers approved it to specifically earmark $10 million for a highway exchange connecting Coconut Road to I-75 near Fort Myers.
Young complained that the measure represents "meddling" by the Senate before acknowledging he intends to support it, just as he said he welcomes an investigation into the earmark itself. "I welcome, if you want to welcome, an investigation into this House," Young told his colleagues during an 11-minute floor speech before the vote.
"A committee chairman does not control the enrollment process, and I do not believe a committee chairman has that right," Young said, arguing that he had no influence over the late changes his staff made to the transportation measure, which was packed with member-requested projects.
The House is expected to approve the Justice Department recommendation as part of a broader technical corrections bill that would make other changes to the 2005 highway package. House approval would send it to the president's desk, forcing him to send the recommendation along to the Senate.
Republican Rep. Jeff Flake of Arizona, one of 14 lawmakers not to request earmarks in that bill who has sparred with Young in the past, announced during debate that he would not support the technical corrections measure because lawmakers are going to approve it without a broader debate about the other projects included.