An Encouraging Development
This Editorial appears in the May 30 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.
It was heartening to hear last week from a bipartisan group of heavy-hitters in the U.S. Senate that they were prepared to lead the charge to get a transportation funding bill through Congress.
The group — which billed itself “The Big Four” — outlined a proposal to spend some $339 billion over the next six years as the best way to break the impasse that has prevented passage of a full highway bill for years.
Democrats Barbara Boxer of California and Max Baucus of Montana joined Republicans James Inhofe of Oklahoma and David Vitter of Louisiana in creating the proposal, which was unveiled to the press late last week.
While short on details, the proposed plan would at least fund large projects that are already in the works, and permit state and local governments to proceed with the work.
The four legislators said they would endeavor to fill in the outline they unveiled and mark up legislation in the Environment and Public Works Committee before the July 4 recess.
While many details are lacking, the group offered a tantalizing tidbit: Their plan would include a new freight program “that will improve the movement of goods.”
Noting that he still needed more specifics, American Trucking Associations President Bill Graves said, “We’re encouraged that this bipartisan group of senators is making progress toward enacting a long-overdue highway reauthorization.”
In addition to funding existing programs, the senators said they would propose spending $1 billion a year to expand the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act program.
That program is designed to help state and local governments fund significant transportation improvements.
Graves said he was pleased the senators “understand what we in the trucking industry have known for quite some time: Investing in our highway infrastructure creates jobs and bolsters our position in a global economy.”
At the press briefing, Boxer acknowledged that the political divide on Capitol Hill may complicate their efforts and require compromises, such as adoption of a short-duration program. “But,” she said, “a lot of the changes we’re putting forward we want to be authorized for six years,” the traditional term for highway reauthorization legislation.
There’s still a long way to go to move this proposal from the lips of “The Big Four” to the law of the land, but we’re encouraged by this development, which puts highway reauthorization back on the front burner.
Let’s see where we are when the July 4 recess comes.
