Just keep this in mind that every time the D.C. folks talk about the urgent need for bailouts:
Tucked in among billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars to bail out Wall Street are a few crumbs for the people — not for the folks who took out risky mortgages or who thought someone else would pay off their credit card bills, but for that tiny slice of America that bicycles to work.
The Bicycle Commuter Act was among hundreds of earmarks federal lawmakers buried in the fine print of House Resolution 1424, aka the $700 billion bailout. It provides a way for employers to give bicycle commuters a whopping $20 a month as a tax-free fringe benefit. It’s not a lot of money, expected to cost the nation a mere $1 million a year, but it has the potential to be a big deal for bike commuters.
Mind you, I’m not against people biking to work, but was giving these folks an extra $20 a month really a priority considering everything facing our nation? I don’t think so.