Congressman Barney Frank Talks to Mansfield Democrats

Barney Frank came to the Saturday morning to discuss his plans to help the country, the entire 4th district and Mansfield.

The Massachusetts Congressman discussed the importance of earmarks for local spending and local highway management, and how the recent abolition of said earmarks is affecting Mansfield directly.

"The money I got in the past to fix [Rte.] 106 so it doesn't look like a hockey rink when you go under the overpass?" he said. "Can't do that anymore."

He said that most of the money he got from earmarks went to the construction and maintenance of highways. Earmarks came under fire from many Republicans after the last senate election and were greatly reduced. Critics of earmarks said they needed to be removed  mainly because they allow federal funds to be directed to projects without any public hearing and also lack transparency.

Frank discussed how before these earmarks were in place, during William Weld's governorship, all the federal money given to the state was poured into the central artery (Rte. 93). He continued, saying that he and other town representatives argued successfully for the local distribution of such funds to allow construction and repair of smaller highways in the past.

"Jim McGovern and I... and other members from outside the Boston area who represented towns... said 'that's no good anymore' and we made them split it up," he said. "But we also put a lot of effort in putting highway money here. So whether it's [Rte.] 495 or [Rte.] 106; a lot of what I have done, I can't do anymore because the Republicans put an end to it. Instead of the bureaucrats deciding where that highway money went, we would get some of it to go where people in the local area wanted it."

Frank also talked about his work on another earmark that he said was suggested to him by Republican State House Rep. F. Jay Barrows. Frank said Barrows wanted money to help with Mansfield's sewage systems, and they worked together to gain $70,000 to that end. Frank added that sometimes the views of the state highway officials and the towns come at odds. He said the earmark system allowed state officials, like himself, to influence and mediate such situations. 

"They were a way for me to listen to local officials, and then say to the national and state appointed officials 'wait a minute, when comes to this, I think the local people ought to have a say,'" he said. "Now you will now have much less ability to influence on the local level some of these decisions. I don't regard that as any great advantage to Democracy."

Frank said that he will try to obtain financial aid from Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to help Bristol County and Massachusetts repair damage done by the winter storms of this year. He said the problem with FEMA now though is that the organization has had its budget cut in recent years.

"If we were spending less in Afghanistan and Iraq we could do more here," he said.

Frank said that FEMA did help with the major floods from last year, but he added that FEMA has been targeted for cuts by the congress, and does not think it likely that aid will be coming any time soon for the recent winter storms.