WASHINGTON -- With Congress poised to unveil a $450 billion, multi-year transportation package next month, backers of the long-awaited Northstar commuter rail line see a fresh chance to extend the project from Minneapolis to St. Cloud, its original destination.
But the potential federal funding has become embroiled in a political squabble over congressional "earmark" spending, as Rep. Michele Bachmann, a Republican whose district includes much of the rail line, has declined to sign off on the Northstar request.
The dispute surfaced Friday as Minnesotans in Congress rolled out transportation funding requests worth hundreds of millions of dollars under the federal government's upcoming six-year surface transportation bill.
As chief architect of the spending bill, Minnesota Democrat Rep. Jim Oberstar, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, submitted $112.6 million in Minnesota projects, most of them in his northern district. Oberstar, however, left out the Northstar proposal, saying he will support the funding request when Bachmann does.
Oberstar's move may prove largely symbolic. He launched the Northstar project in 1991 and has been its leading champion. Meanwhile, two other Minnesota Democrats -- Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Rep. Keith Ellison -- included the extension in their funding requests, ensuring it will get a hearing.
30-mile extension
Local officials are asking Congress to authorize a 30-mile extension from Big Lake to St. Cloud, which represents nearly a doubling of the $310 million line that is scheduled to start operating out of Minneapolis in November. The extension would add an estimated $150 million to the project, with as much as two-thirds of the cost shouldered by the federal government.
Bachmann, an outspoken critic of earmarks, submitted five other road and bridge projects for funding. A spokesman said that unlike the Northstar extension, those projects already have been formally approved by the Minnesota Transportation Department (MnDOT).
