Congress Approves Extension of Highway Bill Through March

Congress last week approved a short-term measure to extend federal surface transportation spending and the federal fuel tax system that helps fund it until March 31.

The Sept. 13 vote in the House was unanimous; the Senate approved the extension on a 92-6 vote on Sept. 15.

The legislation now goes to the White House for signature.

The extension came the same week President Obama formally delivered to Congress his jobs program, which includes $27 billion in new highway spending.

“While this [extension] signifies a bipartisan, bicameral agreement to move forward, it must not be just a temporary Band-Aid for our important aviation, highway, rail and safety programs and for job creation,” said Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

The United States has been without a new surface transportation law since September 2009, when the previous funding authorization expired.

The most recent of seven extensions is set to expire Sept. 30.

“To build our nation’s infrastructure and put people to work, we need long-term authorizations” of the highway and Federal Aviation Administration programs, Mica said in a statement after the vote.

The committee’s ranking minority member, Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.), said he hoped that, “with this six-month extension, . . . we can come together and work to develop a long-term . . . bill that keeps the nation economically competitive, meets the demands of the 21st century and creates millions of family-wage American jobs.”

American Trucking Associations and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said they were pleased with the extension vote but that it was no substitute for long-term reauthorization.

“Eventually, policymakers need to stop kicking the can down the road and enact a robust, multiyear transportation bill that returns the program to its core values and focuses on issues of regional and national significance,” said ATA spokesman Sean McNally.

R. Bruce Josten, the Chamber’s executive vice president for government affairs, said a multiyear reauthorization “would give states the long-term funding certainty to sustain hundreds of thousands of private-sector jobs.”

The extension keeps spending for highways at the current level, which for fiscal 2011, ending Sept. 30, will total about $41 billion.

The Republican House majority has said it will impose cuts of at least 30% on any long-term surface transportation reauthorization bill.

Congress also voted to temporarily extend the FAA until Jan. 31. The temporary extension that ended that agency’s shutdown this summer was set to expire on Sept. 16.

In addition to $27 billion for highways, Obama wants to allocate $10 billion for a national infrastructure bank that would fund large “projects that demonstrate the most merit and may be difficult to fund under the current patchwork of federal programs.”

His overall jobs plan has a price tag of $447 billion.

Bank-financed projects could include — but would not be limited to — highway projects. The bank proposal is modeled on a bill introduced by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas).

For transit, the president proposed $9 billion to repair existing systems and $2 billion to improve intercity passenger rail. He proposed $2 billion to improve safety, add capacity and modernize infrastructure at airports.

ATA President Bill Graves said that, while Obama’s plan will help the U.S. economy by funding road and bridge repairs and expansion, it does not solve the “real” problem.

“If the president wants to foster job creation through infrastructure spending, he should demand Congress pass a well-funded, multiyear bill with a focus on core highway programs that address critical regional and national transportation needs,” Graves said.

He also expressed skepticism about the infrastructure bank and about portions of the president’s plan that would change existing tax policies.

“We’ve long advocated that roads and bridges should be paid for primarily by their users, through the most direct taxes possible, fuel taxes,” Graves said.

Mica also criticized the proposal for an infrastructure bank, noting that 33 states already have such banks.

A national infrastructure bank would force states to deal with Washington bureaucracy to get funding, Mica said.

Pete Ruane, president of the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, commended Obama’s plan for “underscoring the urgent need” to improve the transportation network, but he too took issue with the infrastructure bank.

He said it would have little immediate effect on jobs and that Congress should pass long-term surface transportation and FAA reauthorization, which “provide the best opportunity to improve . . . transportation . . . and put millions of construction workers back on the job quickly.”

John Horsley, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, said state and local governments demonstrated with the economic stimulus of 2009 that “transportation infrastructure can quickly create jobs in every corner of the country.”