Looks like Murphy's a yes vote (updated)

Rep. Scott Murphy, a Glens Falls Democrat who voted against the health-care reform bill last year, and is now supposedly undecided, this afternoon voted yes on a vital procedural vote to allow the current version of the bill to proceed. It passed 222-203.

I got a mailing today from Murphy which doesn't mention health care but is all about jobs. One of his boasts is that he "worked to bring $151 million to Upstate New York for High Speed Rail, which will connect our local industries to the global market." It's true enough that the feds are providing the money, most of which will be spent on constructing a badly needed second track between Albany and Schenectady, eliminating the worst bottleneck in the state. The trouble is, that $151 million is a pathetically small share for New York of the $8 billion federal rail program, which was part of the stimulus bill. The Republicans called the bill "porkulus" and voted en masse against it, but a more telling criticism of Murphy and the rest of New York's congressional delegation is that they didn't deliver the state's fair share of pork. And it's pretty dumb of the freshman congressman to be boasting about delivering so little.

Comments

[devtob]

$151 million for upstate rail, out of $8 billion nationally, is not as bad as you say.

Upstate rail got about 2 percent of the overall rail pot, which is roughly equivalent to the 2 percent of House seats that are in parts of upstate that would benefit from improved rail infrastructure.

[Bob Conner]

$151 million is the entire state's share of the Recovery Act (stimulus) high speed rail awards. An additional $83 million from the TIGER stimulus program was awarded to the Moynihan Station project in the city earlier this year.