Rep. Pete Hoekstra’s Twitter page continues to be a source of amusement and astonishment. In addition to the fact that he posted information intended to be secret about the location and itinerary for a Congressional delegation in Baghdad, there are numerous misstatements just on the front page right now. For instance, there are two false statements in this post alone:
 

Let’s see?They take out auto incentives and put in Reid.s train from LA to Vegas.These guys really do dislike Detroit and mi Ds went along.

First, the auto incentives were not taken out of the bill. They were reduced from the original amount in the bill, but they are still there and they are still significant. Under the final bill, particularly a provision called the Auto Ownership Tax Assistance Amendment, new car buyers will be able to deduct all sales and excise taxes from the purchase of a car up to $49,500. As originally proposed — by Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski, by the way, not by a Michigan legislator — this incentive would have included interest payments as well. But as finalized, the bill still saves a typical family buying a new car about $500 a year on their taxes.

Second, there is no provision for a train from LA to Las Vegas. There is $8 billion for high-speed rails all across the country, but it is unlikely that this imagined line from LA to Vegas will be one of them. As I pointed out when Rep. McCotter made the same false claim last week, the Federal Railroad Administration has already designated those corridors where a high-speed rail line would be more beneficial and necessary and Nevada is not on that list. California and Nevada can apply for such a line in the process for deciding how that $8 billion will be spent, but California is far more likely to want a line from LA to San Francisco to aid travel within the state.

In fact, one of the already designated corridors for a high-speed rail is one from Detroit to Chicago. Given that President Obama, his chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and the #2 man in the Senate Dick Durbin are all from Illinois, I’d say their influence probably outweighs Reid’s pretty significantly and that makes a line that would provide an immediate and obvious benefit to Michigan by connecting Detroit and Chicago considerably more likely than one from LA to Vegas.

Beyond the factual problems, one would also hope that Rep. Hoekstra finds the space bar on his Blackberry. A spell check would help too.