Senate Leaders Back 18-Month Extension Of Transit Law
Darren Goode | Congress Daily | July 15, 2009
You can find the original article here.
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.
That is exactly the concern expressed by those wanting to do a shorter extension to keep the pressure on lawmakers to act before getting bogged down in the next two election years. "An 18-month extension will put us into the next presidential election cycle. It will take four years," House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman James Oberstar said Tuesday. "It will not be a year-and-a-half. I know how this body works. ... Inertia becomes the enemy of progress."
Oberstar's deputy -- Transportation and Infrastructure Highways Subcommittee Chairman Peter DeFazio, D-Ore. -- said extending current law would cost the creation of at least 1 million jobs in the short term and that states won't start investing in longer term projects during that time.
The Obama administration is asking for $20 billion as part of the 18-month extension. Transportation Secretary LaHood Tuesday said OMB is working on the financing, and that the administration wants to give financing recommendations to Congress in time for lawmakers to pass an extension before the House leaves for its summer recess. House and Senate tax-writing panels would be in charge of financing an extension.
Oberstar is pushing for a $7.3 billion short-term fix for the federal Highway Trust Fund to keep it solvent through September, when current law will expire. "Do not confuse a short-term infusion with an extension of current law," Oberstar said. "We do not need to extend current law."
When asked the position of House Speaker Pelosi, Oberstar pointed to remarks she made last week that cited a preference for a six-year bill instead of a second economic stimulus plan. Pelosi "supports the intention of the committee to move ahead with our authorization -- that it should be done this year," Oberstar said. "And we have the support of the House leadership." But Pelosi's office is still saying no decisions have been made.
Senate Environment and Public Works Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee ranking member George Voinovich, R-Ohio, who joined Oberstar and DeFazio at Tuesday's briefing, will offer a compromise at today's Environment and Public Works markup to do a one-year extension. But with Boxer and Inhofe on board with the longer extension, Voinovich's effort appears doomed.
Oberstar, DeFazio and Voinovich all argued that a six-year transportation bill is a bigger jobs bill than any economic stimulus plan. LaHood, though, said 18 months would provide adequate time for the administration and Congress to work out a six-year bill just as the doling out of billions in infrastructure dollars in this year's economic stimulus bill is expected to be finished. "We think the timing is pretty good," LaHood said at an Environment and Public Works hearing on how the transportation sector can be part of pending climate change legislation.
Afterward, LaHood seemed fine with the Senate promoting an extension that does not include certain policy criteria the administration recommended. "We're not writing the bill," he said.
The administration's push for a long extension comes as lawmakers are trying to meet quicker deadlines for two of President Obama's top domestic priorities -- healthcare reform and a major climate and energy package.
Boxer said she and Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry will co-introduce a climate bill the first week senators get back from their summer break, and are still trying to get a Republican to be an original co-sponsor. Boxer left Tuesday's hearing early for a meeting to strategize on securing a GOP co-sponsor. Sources following the Senate climate talks say Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, is a prime candidate to be that Republican co-sponsor.Boxer will later offer a revised product for the panel to take up, she said.
Because of other policy priorities and the long run still ahead in the surface transportation talks, Boxer said the 18-month transportation extension will end up saving jobs. "The reason we're doing this is so we make sure there's no disruption in all these jobs that are out there," Boxer said. One sign of how far there is yet to go in the six-year talks, she said, is that "nobody has come forward with a proposal to pay for it."
Oberstar said he, DeFazio and Transportation and Infrastructure ranking member John Mica will make financing recommendations at a House Ways and Means Committee hearing next week. Oberstar's full panel would not take up a bill until Ways and Means is ready to unveil its financing plan. The Senate Finance Committee -- which is focused on healthcare legislation and will be part of the climate talks as well -- has primary financing jurisdiction in the Senate.