Road Bill Battle Continues as Funding Deadline Nears

Days before all federally funded transportation projects could be forced to shut down, House and Senate negotiators were trying late last week to come up with a long-term reauthorization bill or another temporary extension.

The most recent temporary extension — the ninth since 2009 — runs out June 30.

If a new bill is not approved by then, Congress must pass a temporary extension or the federal government loses its authority to collect the diesel and gasoline taxes that support highway projects and public transit.

Transportation advocates said, however, they were optimistic a shutdown would be avoided after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) instructed lead negotiators Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) to meet continuously in an effort to break the stalemate.

Mica and Boxer met for many hours last week, but on June 21 issued a statement saying only that “they have moved forward toward a bipartisan, bicameral agreement.”

“There is very little to no evidence that people want a repeat of last summer’s shut down of the [Federal Aviation Administration],” said Dave Bauer, who heads lobbying efforts for the American Road and Transportation Builders Association.

Bauer said it was a hopeful sign that 145 House Republicans voted against a recent attempt by some conservatives to instruct negotiators to produce a bill that cuts current funding levels by at least 30%. “That tells me there are 145 Republicans. . . willing to look at something,” Bauer said. “I also know that if a compromise is reached . . . you’re going to have more than 73 Democrats who will join those 145 folks.”

“We understand that conference leaders . . . are close to reaching an agreement on the portions of the bill drafted by the [Senate] Environment and Public Works Committee,” said Sean McNally, American Trucking Associations spokesman. “Further, we are very pleased to see the enthusiasm and motivation of conferees to work through the weekend, which is an indication they feel they are making significant progress.”

Boxer is chairwoman of Environment and Public Works. Mica heads the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

The Senate passed a bipartisan transportation bill in March. House leaders could not muster support for Mica’s bill, but Boehner agreed to a conference committee on the Senate bill (3-19, p. 1).

With unemployment in the construction industry at 14%, contractors and labor last week increased pressure on Congress for a bill.

ARTBA issued a report showing that more than half the states will spend less on highway projects this year than they did before the recession, a situation that is exacerbating unemployment.

“It should serve as a sobering wake-up call to the bill’s 47 conferees and all members of Congress that the continued failure to act will have negative consequences for the nation’s fragile economy,” said ARTBA President Pete Ruane.

ARTBA said 26 of the conferees negotiating the bill come from the states cited in the report.

“There are nearly 14 million Americans unemployed and thousands more could join them if this bill is not passed,” said Ed Wytkind, president of the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO.

In a statement released shortly before the Mica-Boxer statement, Wytkind said House leaders need “to rein in those who are motivated to kill this bill.”