Debate, Vote Postponed on Highway Funding Bill

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) last week postponed debate and a vote on the six-year, $260 billion transportation reauthorization after several representatives objected to some of the bill’s provisions.

The postponement means debate on the bill won’t begin until after the current weeklong Presidents Day recess.

House Democrats said not one of them would vote for the bill, and some Republicans objected to the removal of Highway Trust Fund support for public transportation projects.

Meanwhile in the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) delayed a vote on a plan to spend $109 billion on transportation over two years.

House Republican leaders offered no comments on the reauthorization bill, but Democrats and lobbying groups did.

“The Republicans’ reckless attempt to jam through a partisan surface transportation bill that will never see the light of day has just backfired,” said Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) in a statement. Rahall is the top Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) called the House measure the worst transportation bill in history and one that is “not going anywhere in the Senate” and is opposed by the White House.

“They’re afraid to allow it to be voted up or down as a package,” Blumenauer said. “They’re breaking it into pieces and, after they’re voted on, by rule, they’ll link them together.”

There is an energy component, a funding component and one for highways. Republicans also plan to fold into the larger bill one that would require approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline, which is to transport oil from the Canadian oil sands to Gulf Coast refineries.

The House transportation bill would require states to allow double trailer rigs with trailers up to 33 feet on interstate highways. Currently, trailers are limited to 28.5 feet.

Representatives have filed about 300 amendments to the House bill, among them one that would allow states to commercialize rest stops on interstates. Existing federal law does not allow commercialization and truck stop-operators oppose the provision.

In the Senate, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) and Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.) wanted more time before debate opened to work out details in the bill that would create a new highway freight program.

Commerce is one of four Senate committees with jurisdiction over reauthorization.

American Trucking Associations expressed concerns about the proposed freight program. “We’re mostly concerned about the grant program since it’s multimodal, and if it’s funded from the Highway Trust Fund we’d oppose it,” said Darrin Roth, ATA’s director of highway operations.

Backers of the bill said no trust fund money would be spent on the freight program.

One of the most controversial provisions in the House bill — having to do with spending for highways versus spending for public transit — reportedly has caused concern among Republican representatives.

In Illinois, where state transportation officials have said passage of the House bill will cost the state $900 million in federal highway funds over six years, the Chicago Tribune reported last week that two Republican representatives, Robert Dold and Judy Biggert, have said they would not vote for the bill.

Biggert’s press secretary, Zachary Cikanek, said: “She does not support the House bill in its current form due to her concerns with its overall funding for Illinois, as well as its potential impact on long-term planning for Chicago and suburban transit systems.”

The bill would repeal a 30-year-old law under which public transit receives a share of the fuel taxes — 2.86 cents from both the 24.4-cent diesel tax and the 18.4-cent gasoline levy. Under the bill, transit would have to get its funding from the federal government’s general fund.

“I think the complication with the transit thing is that there are certain Republican members who have a transit presence, it’s not easy for them,” said Dave Bauer, senior vice president of government affairs for the American Road and Transportation Builders Association.

For more than two years, funding for the nation’s transportation system has depended on temporary extensions of the most recent long-term authorization, known as SAFETEA-LU, which expired in September 2009. The latest of eight temporary extensions runs out March 3.

Brian Deery, senior director of the highway and transportation division of Associated General Contractors of America, said that despite the delays, progress is solid on reauthorization.

Bills are on the floors of both chambers, something that did not happen for two years, he said. Once the bills reach conference committee, the differences can be ironed out, Deery said, adding that “there’s too much at stake” not to resolve them.