The crumbling lock at Chickamauga Dam desperately needs to be replaced to ensure continued movement of barges hundreds of miles upstream from Chattanooga. That river traffic supports thousands of jobs.
And yet lock funding was left out of President Barack Obama's $3.73 trillion budget proposal for 2012. That's troubling. The lock is constitutionally a federal duty. By contrast, the president's budget would continue unconstitutional spending such as subsidies for farmers with up to $500,000 in annual income.
Whatever you may think of the Chickamauga lock and farm subsidies, shouldn't vital constitutional duties come before unconstitutional giveaways to the agriculture lobby?