Four Senators Unveil Outline of $339 Billion Highway Bill

This story appears in the May 30 print edition of Transport Topics.

Four key members of the U.S. Senate unveiled an outline of a bipartisan transportation bill that would authorize about $339 billion in spending over six years, as a move to break the long impasse over highway spending.

The bill would fund programs at current levels, plus inflation, and expand an existing federal program that provides loans and guaranteed credit for states and regions struggling to pay for large projects.

The senators said their bill would contain a new freight program “that will improve the movement of goods,” but they did not release any details.

Other provisions would eliminate earmarks, consolidate numerous transportation programs and expedite project delivery times, they said.

The plan was announced May 25 by Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Max Baucus (D-Mont.), James Inhofe (R-Okla.) and David Vitter (R-La.).

“Clearly, this is a very big breakthrough, and I couldn’t be more delighted,” Boxer, chairwoman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, said at a press briefing.

“We have all the agreements necessary in place to write that final bill . . . so we’re ready to rock and roll,” Boxer said of the bipartisan effort she led with Inhofe, the committee’s highest-ranking Republican.

Vitter is the ranking Republican on the Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee of the Environment and Public Works Committee. Baucus is chairman of the subcommittee and chairman of the Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction in the Senate over tax legislation.

“It is no secret,” the senators said in their announcement, “that the four of us represent very different political views, but we have found common ground in the belief that building highways, bridges, and transportation systems is an important responsibility of the federal government.”

The timeline is to “put the bill together in the next two weeks, start hearings on it around that same time and mark it up before the July 4th recess,” Boxer said.

However, given the bleak fiscal picture and the deep political divisions in Congress over spending, she also said, the bill from the “Big Four,” as they are called, ultimately may become only a two-year spending plan. “But a lot of the changes we’re putting forward, we want to be authorized for six years,” Boxer said at the press briefing.

In addition to funding programs at current levels, the senators said they would propose a $1-billion-a-year infusion to expand the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act program.

TIFIA offers federal loans, loan guarantees and standby lines of credit to help state and local governments finance large projects of significance.

Currently, the amount of federal credit assistance may not exceed 33% of project costs. The senators’ bill would raise that bar to 49%, Boxer said.

The bill will not address the question of how to finance transportation spending, Boxer said, adding that that is the Finance Committee’s task.

News of the impending bipartisan bill was a welcome development for the trucking industry, business interests, state transportation planners and more than 400 road builders who gathered in Washington last week to press Congress on reauthorization.

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.”

John Horsley, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, also issued a statement saying he was “encouraged” by news of a bill.

Graves said the four 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.”

Graves added that ATA generally supports the elements the senators outlined in their statement, including “an increased focus on freight.”

“While we await details of the legislation, we generally support a number of the highlights they’ve provided, including an increased focus on freight,” Graves said.

The commitment to maintain current funding levels puts the senators at odds with House leaders, including Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), chairman of the Transportation Committee.

Justin Harclerode, Mica’s spokes-man, said after the senators’ announcement that Mica will continue “to develop a multiyear, fiscally responsible bill that works within the parameters of the Highway Trust Fund and considers other tools to help maximize the potential of our limited resources.”

At an Environment and Public Works subcommittee hearing last month, Baucus estimated current annual transportation spending is about $42 billion. If the only future funding source is the Highway Trust Fund revenue from fuel taxes, spending would drop to about $28 billion a year, he estimated. That reduction, Baucus said, would be “a huge blow to our country.”

Boxer said it is critical to get a bill in motion and passed before Sept. 30, when the short-term reauthorization extension currently funding the nation’s transportation program expires.

“This is a very important moment because we can’t go back to that extension, extension, extension,” Boxer said of the various funding measures passed since September 2009, when the most recent reauthorization plan expired.