Transportation Bill Stalls in Congress; Lawmakers Expected to Pass Extension

This story appears in the March 5 print edition of Transport Topics.

Transportation advocates last week said Congress probably will have to approve another temporary extension of transportation spending legislation, as a new highway bill appeared unlikely to be passed by the time the current extension runs out March 31.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) last month delayed the vote on key transportation components of a five-year, $260 billion highway bill after strong opposition — including from many Republicans — indicated it would not pass.

Meanwhile, the Senate last week began debate on a two-year, $109 billion transportation reauthorization bill, as it tried to meet a self-imposed March 9 deadline for passing a bill.

“I guess the House would probably want a six-month extension and the Senate . . . something less because they’re going to be making progress,” said Greg Cohen, president of the American Highway Users Alliance.

Cohen said that without a long-term funding plan, the Highway Trust Fund will run out of money in 2013.

Some Republican House members have opposed the five-year proposal for a number of reasons, including that it is too expensive, it expands offshore drilling to pay for the bill, and that it would end statutory financial support for public transit programs (2-20, p. 5).

Since pulling the bill, House leadership has “floated” ideas such as crafting a shorter bill, a Republican staffer told Transport Topics last week. “They’re trying to find something they can pass.”

Brian Turmail, spokesman for the Associated General Contractors, said he believes another extension looms.

“Our members are reaching a new level of frustration with the process — with both what is happening and what is not happening in Washington,” he said.

Another extension means contractors would face declining demand and increased uncertainty, Turmail said.

The uncertainty dates to September 2009, when the last long-term reauthorization bill expired and Congress began passing temporary extensions.

Even if the House and Senate both approved bills and then went to conference to work out the differences, there is only a 10% chance reauthorization would happen this year, said Joshua Schank, president of the Eno Transportation Foundation, a Washington think tank.

“It’s been obscured that there are some big policy differences between the bills,” said Schank, who oversaw transportation policy for Sen. Hillary Clinton in the Senate and wrote a book about reauthorization.

The Senate bill, for instance, would create an extensive national freight program, while the House bill barely addresses freight, Schank said.

“Then there’s the performance measures [for states] that are ever-present in the Senate bill and almost non-existent in the House bill,” he added.

Despite the obstacles, Janet Kavinoky, executive director of congressional and public affairs for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said a reauthorization bill could pass.

“I have not heard of anything that presents a real roadblock in the Senate,” said Kavinoky.

House leaders know they have to “make some changes and they’re in the process of doing that,” she said.

A five- or six-year reauthorization bill is unlikely, but a bill that “gets us through fiscal year 2013, which is what most people are talking about . . . yeah, I think we can get this done,” Kavinoky added.