A $275 billion highway bill just handily passed the House. The president demanded that the bill cost no more than 256 billion. Priorities, people! But the House went ahead anyway with the extra 11 billion.

You see, our representatives were not content to fill potholes and fix bridges, they were engaged in you guessed it pork. The Chairman of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure is Don Young. It doesn’t much matter that he’s a Republican. What matters is that he’s from Alaska. It’s no surprise that he found ten million dollars for a brand new bridge in Ketchikan.

And for Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Houston, why, 16 million for pedestrian walkway improvements was pocket change! It’s a little more surpising that Congress decided to dish out money to Pago Pago and American Samoa, or to throw millions at non-roadway projects. But once you start spending, it’s hard to stop.

That’s why Jeff Flake of Arizona, who’s limited his own terms in Congress, dared an amendment to cut all the special riders allowing the pork. But on April Fool’s day the House voted it down, 367 to 60. Next day, the pork-laden bill passed. Representative Flake now beseeches the president. “This bill is out of control. This Congress is out of control and in desperate need of adult supervision.” He’s urging the president to veto. Word is, the president has hauled out his veto pen.

Why bother, you ask, since the bill appears veto-proof? Simple: for responsibility’s sake.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.