Nevada showed up last week in a Washington Post editorial, but as usual, it was a mention the state would likely have preferred to forgo.
At issue was a tantrum thrown by U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, who complained because an Oklahoma senator was trying to kill two highway bridges slated for Alaska, at a cost of $453 million, so the money could be used instead to rebuild a bridge on Lake Ponchartrain that was destroyed by Hurricaine Katrina.
The Post editorial read, “[T]hink about this spending in the larger context: Poor, mistreated Alaska. It ranks number one in per capita federal spending, $12,279 in 2003, compared with Nevada, number 50 at $5,235 for every resident. Alaskans received $1.89 in federal help for every tax dollar they sent to Washington.”
Last year, U.S. Rep. James Gibbons’ office said Nevada receives 73 cents for every dollar in federal taxation.