Senate Committee Approves Two-Year Highway Bill
A key Senate committee Wednesday unanimously approved a two-year highway reauthorization bill, though there is still no plan on how to fully fund the measure.
The Environment and Public Works Committee’s vote — which authorizes $84 billion in highway spending — is the first action in Congress since the last highway funding legislation, SAFETEA-LU, expired in 2009.
Authored by two Republicans and two Democrats, the bill’s identified revenue sources leave it $12 billion short.
Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), the panel’s highest ranking Republican, said the vote was predicated on finding additional revenue.
“It’s not going to go anywhere outside of this committee until we find that funding,” Inhofe said at the markup session Wednesday.
The bill contains several proposals concerning trucking, the most significant the creation of a national freight program designed to speed the movement of goods along the nation’s highways.
The nation currently spends about $50 billion annually on transportation, a figure that includes spending for public transit not addressed in the bill.
Total spending for a two-year reauthorization that includes inflation is projected at $109 billion.
Prior to the vote, American Trucking Associations CEO Bill Graves lauded the committee for taking action.
“As the representative of an industry that depends on a safe and efficient highway system, ATA is pleased that [the committee] put together a substantive and innovative plan to address our nation's critical need to improve our infrastructure.
“By consolidating the myriad of federal programs into just a handful of major initiatives, including one dedicated solely to the movement of freight, this draft ensures that federal dollars will be spent more wisely,” he said in a statement.
The committee vote was a rare example of bipartisanship in a Congress deeply divided on spending issues.
A two-year reauthorization would be a departure from the tradition of six-year plans, and House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) has said that only a six-year bill would provide funding stability for transportation projects.
In order to advance to a House-Senate conference, the bill must first be approved by several other Senate committees and then by the full Senate.
