Last week, Fired Up! reported that Rep. Roy Blunt (R-K Street) acknowledged using taxpayer dollars as a form of political piggybank, to buy votes for unrelated measures [0].

But it is only now becoming clear just how extensively Blunt used that tactic.

This weekend, the Danville (Va.) Register Bee, carried a report [1] that says Blunt used the highway bill to punish those Republican members who didn't tow the party line on the recent CAFTA vote.

U.S. Rep. Virgil Goode’s vote against the Central American Free Trade Agreement may have nearly cost Danville $5 million for replacing Robertson Bridge - roughly one sixth of the project’s $30 million price tag.

More:

The National Journal also reported that Farmville, N.C., U.S. Rep. Walter Jones and Rochester, Minn., U.S. Rep. Gil Gutknecht saw similar cuts in funding for their local projects. Both Republicans were also staunch CAFTA opponents.

House Majority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri told the National Journal last week that “the highway bill had been effective as leverage for CAFTA,” but neither Goode nor National Journal reporter Darren Goode could get a definitive answer connecting the transportation funding cuts with opposition to CAFTA.