Two controversial projects to be pulled from US Covid bill

Two big projects originally slated to be part of the Covid-19 relief bill of USA but criticized as being unrelated to coronavirus relief will be pulled from the package_ House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office confirmed on Tuesday.

The original bill_ passed by the House_ included $1.425 billion in funding to help with transit rail capital projects_ including the extension of the Bay Area Rapid Transit line from San Jose to Santa Clara_ California. It had been part of $30 billion in support for public transportation in the relief package_ but Pelosi's office said that the Senate parliamentarian had ruled against its inclusion because it was part of a pilot project.

The relief package will also no longer include funding for the Seaway International Bridge in upstate New York. The $1.5 million in funding had been proposed during the Trump administration and supported by Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik_ whose district includes the bridge.

CNN reported_ a Senate source told_  the request to including funding for the bridge in the relief legislation was originally made by the Department of Transportation under the Trump administration in spring 2020 and that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer_ a New York Democrat_ hadn't known the funding was in the bill until he read about it in media reports.

Republicans have held up both projects as examples of spending in the bill that would benefit the Democratic leaders' districts and home states and have very little to do with helping Americans recover from the Covid-19 pandemic. Stefanik did not support the relief bill and said the funding for the bridge should not have been included.

The BART extension is not in Pelosi's California district and would have occurred 50 miles south of the area she represents.

Pelosi's spokesman Drew Hammill said_  Covid had "an immediate and overwhelming effect on all of our transportation systems and the millions of transportation and construction jobs associated with them_" but now with the two projects removed_ he added_ "it is unclear how Republicans will justify their opposition" to the legislation.