Dems Still Split on Funding of Nation’s Highway Needs
This story appears in the July 27 print edition of Transport Topics.
WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats continued to spar over how best to address the nation’s road transportation needs, as the Senate and House moved on opposing paths.
Although a second Senate committee agreed last week to support the Obama administration’s request for an 18-month delay in reauthorizing the nation’s surface transportation program, supporters of a new long-term bill in the House continued to seek funding sources to pay for it.
“I know some people may have wanted a long-term reauthorization of these programs,” said Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, but the delay is “good the way it is.”
Rockefeller’s committee approved the extension on July 21, following action earlier by the Environment and Public Works Committee to delay a new long-term bill and the introduction of a measure by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) that would transfer $19.5 billion into the ailing Highway Trust Fund.
Rockefeller told Transport Topics after the hearing that opponents of the extension, specifically Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.), chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, will have to accept the delay, “because the White House needs time.”
“It is necessary for [the White House] to have input, and they are obviously so overwhelmed by issues that they need time,” he said.
Oberstar reiterated his opposition to a lengthy delay, telling a House Ways and Means subcommittee on July 23, “We don’t have time for an 18-month Head Start program for the folks over at the White House. So we’re moving ahead.”
However, his spokesman, Jim Berard, told TT that Oberstar could support a shorter delay.
“He would agree to an extension if it is in the context of buying time, because we’re making progress on a bill, not a delay for the sake of delay, which is what the 18-month extension is,” Berard said.
Other House leaders continued to support Oberstar, with Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), chairman of the Select Revenue Measures Subcommittee of the Ways and Means panel, saying that a long-term bill should go forward.
Oberstar acknowledged that Congress did need to address the projected shortfalls in the Highway Trust Fund and said that Congress should enact a $3 billion transfer before the August recess “to carry us through the end of the fiscal year.”
“In the month of September, we can enact our larger program and, with your participation, address the long-term financing needs,” he told the Ways and Means panel.
Baucus’ bill would transfer $19.5 billion into the trust fund, just shy of the $20 billion the Obama administration requested.
Roy Kienitz, undersecretary of policy at the Department of Transportation, told the Ways and Means committee that solving the long-term financing for the trust fund was “a tough nut to crack and [to] take some time to do it well, and for that reason, we are supporting an 18-month delay.”
“Obviously, it is difficult to find the funding we need to get to a $450 billion” long-term bill, said Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), chairman of the Highways and Transit Subcommittee. “We need $140 billion of additional revenue.”
Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), the ranking Republican on the House transportation panel, also raised the idea of increased bonding and federal lending for transportation, as well as support for infrastructure banks and public-private partnerships.
Kienitz expanded on the administration’s previous opposition to raising or indexing the fuel tax and told the committee that DOT was “not supporting any new revenue for the Trust Fund from a new tax source right now.”
