Mica Says GOP to Drop Demand to Slash Transportation Funding

Republican leaders in the House of Representatives have agreed to a higher funding level for a new transportation reauthorization bill, abandoning the $230 billion cap they previously set for any six-year plan.

The reversal was announced by Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, at a Sept. 22 meeting with transportation stakeholders and then confirmed to Transport Topics.

The announcement means that threatened funding cuts of more than 30% to the current spending on highway, safety, transit and other transportation programs will not occur.

Mica did not say when he would introduce a long-term reauthorization bill, what level of funding it would contain or where leadership would look for new revenues, his spokesman, Justin Harclerode, said.

“[The leadership] gave him permission to proceed with a bill at a higher funding level and [said] that they would find other funding sources,” said Greg Cohen, president of the American Highway Users Alliance.

“But we don’t know how yet, and the only thing we know is that it will not be a gas tax,” said Cohen, who attended the meeting with Mica.

Some transportation lobbyists said they believe Republicans are looking at the energy industry for new transportation revenue tied to increased oil drilling, perhaps, offshore, or to cuts in oil drilling subsidies.

Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.), ranking Democrat on the Transportation Committee, said: “While the Republicans have yet to reach out or discuss any details with us, we hope it is true that they have abandoned their attempts to slash and burn the transportation budget by one third.”

Democrats are ready to work with Republicans “to find the additional revenue necessary to finance a robust bill,” Rahall said.

The country has not had a new long-term surface transportation law since the last one expired in 2009.

Congress has passed seven short-term extensions, the latest on Sept. 15, which extends authorization until March 31 (9-19, p. 1).

News that the GOP has backed off on deep spending cuts was welcomed by transportation advocates.

That could “save thousands of jobs and prevent critical safety and mobility projects from being canceled,” said Sean McNally, spokesman for American Trucking Associations.

Brian Turmail, spokesman for the Associated General Contractors of America, said it was encouraging that House leaders “clearly understand that they’ve got to find a way to maintain current levels of infrastructure investment. That for us is a very positive development.”

When Republicans took over the House in January they passed a rule that said reauthorization funding could not exceed revenue in the Highway Trust Fund from fuel taxes and other levies on trucks.

That meant transportation spending would be capped at about $34 billion in each of the next six years, Mica said of the bill he is drafting but has not introduced.

Currently, the federal government spends more than $51 billion annually on surface transportation because the trust fund revenue is supplemented by general fund money.

Even at $51 billion, however, transportation experts and business leaders have said current spending is woefully inadequate given the age of the nation’s infrastructure and the need for repair and new capacity.

Cohen said he believes the Republicans’ decision to abandon deep funding cuts was their response to the president’s jobs bill, “that they felt that the president’s focus on the stimulus kind of spending was not the way to go and that the reauthorization bill without cuts would be the way to go.”

Cohen said he hoped the Republican leadership’s new approach to a transportation bill would make the reauthorization process more bipartisan by bringing in the Democrats.

Although the leadership and Mica did not say where they will seek new revenue, a Sept. 15 speech by House Speaker John Boehner at the Economic Club of Washington may foreshadow the strategy.

Boehner said: “I’m not opposed to responsible spending to repair and improve infrastructure. But if we want to do it in a way that truly supports long-term economic growth and job creation, let’s link the next highway bill to an expansion of American-made energy production.”

New oil drilling, even for transportation projects, could meet opposition in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

But even if Senate support for more drilling is unlikely, Cohen said, both chambers are now on record against cuts to highway programs and have passed a temporary reauthorization that maintains the current spending level.

“I would suspect that once you do that it would be hard to cut back later, so, I think we’ve made some progress over the last month,” Cohen said.