
Doug Jackson and Donna Rowland with their little buddy Ronnie Barrett, who won't be getting a taxpayer-funded free road this year.
Maybe no one will talk because TDOT has been issued a letter by the Federal Highway Administration threatening to pull $762 million dollars in funding to Tennessee if the federal right of way is given to Barrett in violation of federal statutes. Michelle Willard of the Murfreesboro Post and Jeff Woods of the Nashville Scene have the scoop:
Should the House Budget Subcommittee finish other outstanding business today, the House Finance Committee could vote on the amendment as early as Wednesday night.
Earlier this legislative session, the Senate Finance Committee voted to advance a similar bill that would grant Barrett the right-of-way needed to widen and extend Miller Lane to his factory expansion.
A companion bill in the state House has stalled after the Federal Highway Administration warned the state may lose highway funding of more than $762 million if the transfer of property is approved.
TDOT Spokeswoman Julie Oaks said the department asked the FHA earlier this year if the legislation would violate any federal transportation rules.
“They said, ‘this legislation seems to be in conflict with the core concepts of our program’,” Oaks read from a letter to TDOT Commissioner Gerald Nicely.
Woods:
As the session drags on endlessly and reporters nod off at their desks, Barrett’s many friends in the legislature have slipped into action. They’ve hidden an amendment in the latest House omnibus budget bill. They’re sneaky like that. Their amendment orders the Transportation Department to build Barrett’s road for him, and damn the consequences.
What are the consequences? How about the loss of millions of dollars in federal highway funds? That money is at risk because Barrett’s special amendment would force the state to relinquish federal right-of-way along Interstate 24. The feds frown on that.
“This could definitely cost us some money. That sounds like the Washington way of doing business,” said department spokeswoman Julie Oaks, taking a poke at one of the legislature’s more prominent supporters of the NRA.
At this moment, Pith is looking at a letter from the Federal Highway Administration to Transportation Commissioner Gerald Nicely, which says:
If the Department moves forward with the relinquishment of the Interstate right-of … the State of Tennessee could potentially become ineligible to receive a portion of the Federal funding available to it under the Federal-aid Highway Program. Tennessee’s share of the FAHP totaled $762,023,000 for federal fiscal year 2009.
That’s $762 million. But hey, what’s a little money between friends?


Republicans controlled this year’s session of the Tennessee legislature for the first time since reconstruction (1870’s). They took over in a time of unprecedented economic hardship and sagging revenues, adding up to a budget mess that required quick action. What did republicans do with their newfound leadership opportunities? They plugged the budget holes with the very stimulus money they protested, passed “Guns in Bars”, and headed home with their
WASHINGTON – For more than two decades, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ health care system has been plagued by consistently late and, at times, inadequate budgets. On Wednesday (October 7), the U.S. House of Representatives passed bipartisan legislation to ensure timely funding for veterans’ health care.
In the video above, Rep. Carr couldn’t explain how he “inadvertently” drove himself to the bank to “inadvertently” cash 13 weeks worth of bogus meal and hotel expense checks. 









