The Imperial Dominion of the South's Legislature

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

I suppose the other $70M can come out of the highway bill I passed a month ago. The SE got a good amount of funds out of it that I'm sure we can designate to this project. We should have something like $5 billion allocated this year to play around with.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Couldn't we just pull all $140M out of the highway fund? I mean, it's already been appropriated. Better to use that if we can rather than appropriate more money.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Probably. Im not sure ultimately how the funds were located. The bill provided $15B for funds for the 5 regions in 2011, so I think we have at least $3B to mess with assuming it hasn't been used for something else. I guess it depends whether you want the Feds controlling it all or the region having a say.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     It doesn't have so much to do with the federal government controlling it as it has to do with the fact that I don't want to ask for more taxpayer money for the project when the funds to do so are already there in the region's treasury.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

     It doesn't have so much to do with the federal government controlling it as it has to do with the fact that I don't want to ask for more taxpayer money for the project when the funds to do so are already there in the region's treasury.

I got it. Use the funds we have then.

[Yelnoc]

How is this?

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I'd suggest wording clause 3 as "Construction of the Duke Greenway shall be paid for with $140 million dollars taken from the Highway Fund." The increased specificity of that phrase would be nice, though I'm not sure it is really needed.

[Yelnoc]

     I'd suggest wording clause 3 as "Construction of the Duke Greenway shall be paid for with $140 million dollars taken from the Highway Fund." The increased specificity of that phrase would be nice, though I'm not sure it is really needed.

Fixed.

[-]

I sort of agree with the Emperor, but I have a bill coming that I'm going to find a sponsor for that involves a new boulevard running around Monticello, Arkansas, so I don't want to spend all local resources for highways. We need to save some for later, but it depends on how much money we have for these projects.

How much do we have in funds for highways?

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

The Fix Our Roads! Act I authored in the Senate allocated $15B this year nationwide, and if it was divided up equally, we have $3B from that bill alone. I don't know about any other funds.

[-]

WOW. So we have enough to complete several projects like this.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Looking at the thread in question, it seems to me that the federal government holds all of the money. The bill doesn't seem to have been amended to incorporate the myriad suggestions in that thread.

[Yelnoc]

So, Senator Duke, it looks like you will have to work some Federal magic to free up the funds for us.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Ugh. I forgot that bill didn't allocate to the regions. If my ticket had won the presidency, that was going to be one of my first things to do.

Let me see what I can do. Maybe I can amend it or something.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Could we sell bonds & then buy them back once the highway fund money becomes available?

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

I don't see why not.

I introduced a bill that will hopefully get us the funds as soon as it's passed.

[-]

I don't see why not.

I introduced a bill that will hopefully get us the funds as soon as it's passed.

Sounds good.

[SvenssonRS]

ACK. Sorry, guys, I had an involved day today.

Anyway, my position on the current bill-in-discussion is effective neutrality for now. If Duke can free up the funds regionwide, then we have a way of paying it off with trivial ease, which is my main concern. If not, then I suggest tabling this until such time we figure out a way to fund it.

So, my support for this rests entirely with Duke and how successful he is. If he gets us our $3B, then certainly, we can pay it off without a blink. If not, I can't really support the massive price tag.

[-]

ACK. Sorry, guys, I had an involved day today.

Anyway, my position on the current bill-in-discussion is effective neutrality for now. If Duke can free up the funds regionwide, then we have a way of paying it off with trivial ease, which is my main concern. If not, then I suggest tabling this until such time we figure out a way to fund it.

So, my support for this rests entirely with Duke and how successful he is. If he gets us our $3B, then certainly, we can pay it off without a blink. If not, I can't really support the massive price tag.

That $3B has great potential. We could have money to do this project 21 times with those funds. And 30 times with my project (Legislators, PM me if you want to sponsor my bill). That would be a big help.

If we don't get the 3 Billion, this could be an issue funding-wise...

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Well, the funds are already set aside. I suppose the initial bill passed leaves where the money is spent to the feds versus allowing the regions to decide. I hope we can change that and let the regions decide.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Actually, couldn't the Secretary of Internal Affairs make a statement dispensing the money to the regions?

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

     Actually, couldn't the Secretary of Internal Affairs make a statement dispensing the money to the regions?

You're right. That may be the way around having to go through passing a new bill. Maybe I'll send whoever that is a PM asking him.

[-]

I believe it's Dr. Cynic.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

I just PM'd him. I'll let y'all know what he says. I may just withdraw my bill if he can take care of it.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

We are now awaiting word from the President on where to go from here. I'll let you know as soon as I hear back.