Senate Committee OKs highway law extension
Lisa Lambert | Reuters | July 15, 2009
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A key U.S. Senate committee approved on Wednesday part of President Barack Obama's plan to keep road and highway programs operating as the fund for construction and repairs comes close to zero. The Environment and Public Works Committee voted to extend the current transportation law, which expires on September 30, by 18 months.
The measure will be combined with one currently under consideration by the Senate Finance Committee to transfer $20 billion into the fund that provides money for highway projects, and then sent to the full chamber for a vote. "Right now, with the Highway Trust Fund running out of funds even as we speak, the most important thing is predictability," said Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer.
Senate Committee Approves 18-Month Highway-Program Extension
Tom Ichniowski | Engineering News Record | July 15, 2009
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee has approved a bill that would extend the federal-aid highway program for 18 months, authorizing $61.5 billion over that period. The panel cleared the measure on July 15 by an 18-1 vote. Only Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) voted against it.
The extension would begin on Sept. 30, when the current multi-year surface transportation bill--the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: a Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU)--will lapse. It would keep authorizations at the fiscal 2009 levels, providing $41 billion for fiscal 2010 and $20.5 billion for the first six months of fiscal 2011.
Senate Leaders Back 18-Month Extension Of Transit Law
Darren Goode | Congress Daily | July 15, 2009
The Senate starting today is poised to officially back the Obama administration's request to extend federal surface transportation law through March 2011, despite concern that such a delay in seeking a six-year bill could jeopardize potential jobs and investments.
Both Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer and ranking member James Inhofe are backing an 18-month extension of current law that is "clean" -- devoid of any new policy criteria -- that the panel will vote on this morning.
"I think what we're doing is best for the economy and is true to fiscal responsibility," Boxer said. Senate Majority Leader Reid also appears to be on board. A spokesman for Inhofe said, "We're aiming for 18 months" but added that it might take even longer to finish a bill.
Senate Panel Approves Highway Bill Extension
Josh Voorhees | Greenwire | July 15, 2009
A Senate panel took the first legislative step today to extend the current highway and transit spending law, an effort that would postpone the next full, six-year authorization of the measure until the end of March 2011.
The Environment and Public Works Committee voted 18-1 to extend funding for highways and other programs under the committee's jurisdiction. The bill authorizes a total of roughly $61.5 billion in spending for the next 18 months. The Senate Commerce and Banking committees, which oversee rail and transit provisions, respectively, will likewise need to pass their own extensions.
Chamber starts lobbying blitz on highway bill
Kevin Bogardus | The Hill | July 15, 2009
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday set off a lobbying blitz on Capitol Hill to build support for the stalled highway bill.
The trade association says the transportation reauthorization would jumpstart the struggling economy by creating jobs to rebuild the nation's crumbling highways, railroads and transit systems. A $500 billion, six-year proposal by Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has the Chamber's backing but has suffered from a lack of momentum among lawmakers concerned about the cost of the bill.
Drivers asked to test alternative to fuel tax
Heather Clark | The Associated Press | July 9, 2009
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Researchers are looking for 1,500 drivers in six cities, including Albuquerque, to test an on-board computer system that taxes motorists based on miles driven rather than fuel taxes paid at the pump. That mileage-based tax is being considered by the University of Iowa Public Policy Center in a $16.5 million study for the U.S. Department of Transportation to determine whether it's a viable option for paying for surface transportation, including roads and railroads, in the future.
The gas tax over the long term "is irrevocably broken and something is going to have to be done," said Jon Kuhl, a University of Iowa professor of electrical and computer engineering and principle investigator on the study. Researchers are looking for participants to install the computers on their vehicles and tell researchers what they think of the new system. The other cities are Billings, Mont., Chicago, Miami, Portland, Maine, and Wichita, Kan.
Ways and Means committee puts Oberstar's highway bill on hold for health legislation
Katelyn Ferral and Kevin Bogardus | The Hill | July 8, 2009
Rep. Jim Oberstar's (D-Minn.) ambitious plan to finish a new highway bill before the end of year is running into a roadblock of his party's own making: the massive overhaul of the nation's healthcare system. The House Ways and Means Committee is swamped with healthcare, President Obama's highest legislative priority. That means the panel doesn't have the time to work on tax measures that would pay for the $500 billion highway bill that otherwise falls under the purview of Oberstar's Transportation Committee.
"You have to believe me. Everything I am doing is health, health and health," Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) told The Hill. He said he can't yet talk about how to fund the highway bill, but added that "it is very important and it's on the front burner." Several of Rangel's colleagues on the panel were less optimistic, and cast doubt on whether the committee had time for another large undertaking this year given their responsibility on healthcare.
Stakeholders Told Cover Is Needed For Revenue Raisers
Peter Kohn | Congress Daily | July 7, 2009
The chief architect of House Democrats' 2008 electoral gains recently had a blunt message for supporters of a multiyear surface transportation funding bill: Don't count on Democrats alone to fall on their swords for gasoline or other tax increases to pay for it. Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen of Maryland "laid out political reality" at a June 26 meeting with about 75 transportation lobbyists and stakeholders, sources familiar with the event said.
The message was that "unless groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are willing to provide political cover so members know they are not going to get absolutely skewered ... there is no way we can talk about a revenue solution," according to one attendee. "Support is going to have to come from both the left and the right."
Oberstar's Road Bill Faces Survival Test: Key Senators Back Administration Position
Michele Fuetsch | Transport Topics Online | July 6, 2009
With the White House standing in his path and a pair of well-placed senators lining up with the administration, the guessing game in Washington is how long House Transportation Committee Chairman James Oberstar can keep his six-year highway reauthorization bill alive in Congress.
Oberstar (D-Minn.) unveiled his proposal late last month, but the Obama administration stole his thunder, announcing that it wants the reauthorization process shelved for 18 months.
"Oberstar is not going to win this game," said Joshua Schank, director of transportation research for the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington think tank.
"He's up against the Senate and the administration, and there's only so much he can do," said Schank, who co-wrote a book, "All Roads Lead to Congress," about the previous reauthorization struggle. That conflict in 2005 produced the $286.5 billion SAFETEA-LU measure -- the Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users -- after more than two years of congressional maneuvering.
White House Says Overhaul of Transportation System Must Wait
Alec MacGillis | The Washington Post | June 26, 2009
After rejecting criticism that it is taking on too much, the Obama administration has identified one area where ambitious reforms will have to wait: overhauling the nation's aging, congested and carbon-emitting transportation system.
The current six-year, $286 billion transportation spending plan expires in October, and House members have worked for months to produce a 775-page, $500 billion bill that would create a new fund for road repairs, increase funding for rail and public transit and include reforms meant to wean the country from fossil fuels.
But it became clear at a contentious Senate hearing yesterday that the half-trillion-dollar question is how to pay for the bill. The 18.4-cent federal gas tax has not been raised since 1993, and revenue from it falls increasingly short every year because of inflation and the shift to more fuel-efficient cars.