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Washington - Faced with new spending obstacles this year, Washington's oldest profession - bringing home the bacon - still produced an array of special-interest projects for New York and Long Island, thanks to unexpected revenues, the usual arm-twisting and a presidential pardon.
Critics and budget hawks hoped public pressure to cut federal spending and the new presidential authority to veto individual line items would help limit traditional pork-barrel projects. One of the most consistent and outspoken, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), identified hundreds of projects worth more than $13 billion that he wanted to cut. Every time the Senate voted on an appropriations bill, McCain irritated his colleagues by pointing out the offensive projects. He then fired off letters to President Bill Clinton, urging him to use his line-item veto to eliminate the spending.
To the relief of many in Congress, his advice was routinely ignored. For Long Island and New York City, that meant an array of transportation, parks and environmental projects survived.
"We were all very conscious of the line-item veto," said Rep. Michael Forbes (R-Quogue). His membership, along with that of Rep. Nita Lowey (D-Westchester), on the House Appropriations Committee and the vigilence of Sens. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.) and Alfonse D'Amato (R-N.Y.), gave the region leverage in congressional bargaining. "Some of our members wanted to make deeper cuts in the budget. But I think in the end all of us realize this is politics, and you're always going to need these projects," Forbes said.
Appropriators found themselves with an extra $10 billion in fiscal 1998 under the balanced budget agreement, which reduced pressure for hard choices. Locally, mass transit attracted much of the spending, including $12 million for Penn Station renovations; $20 million for the East Side connector, a tunnel and transfer facility that will eventually allow subway and Long Island Rail Road connections to the East Side of Manhattan through the 63rd Street tunnel; and $500,000 for an environmental impact study of a possible rail link to the Nassau business...