Congress Returns to New Session Facing Transportation Deadlines

As Congress returns to work this week after its extended holiday vacation, members face two deadlines that, if not met, could bring transportation safety programs and construction projects to a halt.

The first deadline is March 31, the day the temporary extension for the latest transportation reauthorization law expires.

The second deadline — when the Highway Trust Fund runs out of money — could come as early as August or as late as October.

The backdrop for the fund’s insolvency will be the presidential election, which is why transportation advocates said they are launching a six-figure advertising and lobbying campaign to persuade Congress to make transportation reauthorization its number one job.

“It’s going to be a very intense first three months of the year,” said Janet Kavinoky, transportation strategist and executive director of congressional and public affairs for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

“If we haven’t made significant progress by March 31, we’re going to be hard-pressed to see a bill done this year if the election really takes over the agenda,” Kavinoky said.

Mary Phillips, senior vice president for legislative affairs for American Trucking Associations, said, “Our focus is very much on highway reauthorization.”

A two-year highway bill currently making its way through the Senate contains several provisions trucking supports.

Among them are: mandated electronic onboard recorders on all trucks; a national drug and alcohol clearinghouse so employers can check job applicants; written proficiency exams for those entering trucking; and crashworthiness standards for trucks.

However, Phillips recently told ATA members, “Looking at the prospects for actual enactment of a highway bill, I have to say I’m not encouraged.”

The “saga” over reauthorization for the Federal Aviation Administration has resulted in 22 temporary extensions and a two-week shutdown over just a few provisions, Phillips said.

“There will be many more issues in the highway bill that will need to be resolved between the Senate and the House and between Democrats and Republicans,” Phillips said.

The most pressing issue is how to pay for transportation. Phillips told ATA members that Congress has no “appetite” for new fuel taxes and the House Republican proposal to expand oil drilling to pay for highways is opposed by Senate Democrats.

To maintain transportation spending at current levels, Congress must find $12 billion in new revenue.

No surface transportation bill has been introduced in the House, but a spokesman for Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) said to expect a bill in early February.

“We are planning to move forward as planned early in the year with a long-term reauthorization,” said Mica spokesman Justin Harclerode.

Mica originally wanted a six-year bill but has said the bill will be for five years.

In a statement Jan. 9, House Speaker Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) said that in “the coming weeks and months” the House will vote on the proposal to fund surface transportation programs by expanding oil drilling offshore and in the Alaska wilderness.

Kavinoky and others said they see Boehner’s thrust on oil drilling as a strategic move.

“Those bills can pass the House, possibly, and be used in conference as some sort of bargaining chip,” said Jeffrey Shoaf, executive director of government relations for the Associated General Contractors of America, whose members include highway contractors.

Shoaf and others have said the drilling bill would not produce revenue for at least 10 years. The proposal is a “sweetener” to get House members’ support for a reauthorization bill, he said.

Any issue, even the length of a reauthorization bill, can be negotiated in the conference committee, if the House and Senate can each pass a bill, Shoaf added.

He said he is optimistic Congress will pass a bill by March 31 because members seeking re-election do not want a crisis in late summer or fall on the campaign trail as Highway Trust Fund money runs out and construction workers are laid off.

The prospect of such a crisis may be the only thing that makes Congress address reauthorization, said Joshua Schank, a former transportation adviser to Hillary Clinton and president of the Eno Center for Transportation, a Washington think tank and advocacy group.

“Nobody wants to deal with the fallout from that,” said Schank, adding that it would give President Obama a bully pulpit from which to complain jobs were lost.

For trucking in the coming congressional year, there are on-going, critical issues at stake, among the most important, tolling and taxes.

Phillips said ATA is working to ensure that Congress does not enable tolling on existing interstates. Reauthorization proposals did not include such tolling provisions, but ATA is watching a bill introduced by Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) to facilitate the sale of existing transportation assets to private investors that could then impose tolls.

ATA is supporting a plan by Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and Jim Gerlach (R-Pa.) to replace the federal excise tax on new trucks with a higher diesel tax.

Blumenauer spokesman Derek Schlickeisen said a new bill to replace one introduced two years ago is being prepared.

Truck weight is another issue ATA is closely monitoring. Rep. Michael Michaud (D-Maine) is sponsoring a bill supported by ATA to allow states to raise truck weights to 97,000 pounds on interstate highways.

Trucking also backs bills sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Rep. John Sullivan (R-Okla.) to give tax credits to buyers and makers of trucks fueled by natural gas and for building the filling stations.

Phillips said the cost of the tax credits, which could run to $3 billion, has made the bill less popular than ATA would like.