The Cibola County Beacon in New Mexico passes on what could be extraordinarily good news:
Judging that a federal program to preserve aspects of historic Route 66 is helping breathe new life into rural America, U.S. Senator Pete Domenici has offered legislation to ensure its continuation for another decade.
Domenici has introduced the Route 66 Corridor Preservation Reauthorization Act of 2008 that would renew until 2019 a National Park Service program that is now being used by communities and organizations to restore and preserve unique cultural resources along the 2,200-mile Route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica, Calif.
The Senate bill is cosponsored by Senator Jeff Bingaman, and a companion bill is being introduced by Representative Heather Wilson in the House of Representatives.
“There are more kicks to be had on old Route 66 and this program should be reauthorized. In towns like Albuquerque, Tucumcari and Grants, Route 66 helped define the character of the community. This program works to maintain that spirit,” Domenici said. “This is not a huge program, but it is useful to support grassroots efforts to save what’s left of Route 66, which played such an important historic role in the migration of Americans in the 20th century.”
“For decades, drivers who have wanted to tour our nation’s heartland have taken Route 66. Through this partnership, we’ve been able to use federal and local funding to help preserve the many sites along this historic route, and I’m pleased to join Senator Domenici in extending this grant program,” Bingaman said.
I’ve known the Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program‘s two directors, Mike Taylor and Kaisa Barthuli, for years. They’re such tireless supporters and boosters of Route 66, they give the term “bureaucrats” a good name. The program itself has assisted a lot of Route 66 businesses for nearly a decade. And they both said they’re willing to continue running the program if it were renewed.
Domenici was one of the early champions of the program when it was first passed into law during the mid-1990s. So it pained me to see him caught up in the ugly U.S. attorneys firing scandal last year. It’s been rumored that he will soon retire, and the scandal put a blemish on a late stage of his legislative career.
But if he can shepherd this bill through Congress and get it enacted into law, it will absolve him quite a bit in my eyes.
I REALLY ENJOY YOUR SITE AND APPRECIATE ALL YOUR EFFORTS IN KEEPING US POSTED ON CURRENT ROUTE 66 GOINGS ON.
BUT… I DO NOT APPRECIATE YOUR POLITICAL COMMENTARY. RE THE UGLY US ATTORNEY FIRING SCANDAL. HOW ABOUT CLINTON’S FIRING SCANDAL WHERE HE FIRED ALL ATTORNEYS. THIS SITE IS NOT THE PLACE FOR POLITICS. OTHERWISE KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.
Clinton had nothing to do with Route 66 legislation.
Domenici did, and his prominent involvement with the U.S. attorney firings scandal — especially one in New Mexico — cast a cloud over his Senate legacy.