Transportation Panels Form for 106th Congress

The new chairman of the Senate Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee is a former governor who supported giving responsibility for the federal highway program to the states.

As governor of Ohio in 1977, George Voinovich called federal highway programs “intrusive” and said they required states to jump through regulatory hoops. Now a freshman senator, he will head the subcommittee with jurisdiction over federal roads and bridges.

The Ohio Republican said his top legislative priorities include examining the environmental effects of urban sprawl and how federal mandates contribute to excessive contract costs, and overseeing the highway bill that was passed by Congress last year.

Last year, Voinovich was the chairman of the National Governors’ Association, which played a major role in the enactment of the highway bill. The NGA headed the TRUST Coalition, which supported utilizing all of the revenues in the Highway Trust Fund for transportation purposes.

Voinovich replaces Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), who chose to take the chair of the Armed Services Committee. Senate rules limit the number of chairmanships that a member can hold, and Warner was unable to obtain a waiver.

Warner remains a member of the subcommittee along with four other Republicans: Robert Smith of New Hampshire, Craig Thomas of Wyoming, Kit Bond of Montana and James Inhofe of Oklahoma.

emocrats have not announced their choices for the subcommittee.

In the House of Representatives, 15 lawmakers were assigned to the Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, which sets funding levels for the Department of Transportation and the Surface Transportation Board.

The subcommittee is chaired by Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.). New to the subcommittee is Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas).

Reappointed were Republican Reps. Tom Delay of Texas, Ralph Regula of Ohio, Hal Rogers of Kentucky, Ron Packard of California, Todd Tiahrt of Kansas and Robert Aderholt and Sonny Callahan of Alabama.

Rep. Martin Sabo (D-Min.) will continue as the subcommittee’s senior Democrat. Returning to the subcommittee from his party are Reps. John Olver of Massachusetts and Ed Pastor of Arizona. Democrats joining the committee are Reps. Carolyn Kilpatrick of Michigan, Jose Serrano of New York and James Clyburn of South Carolina.

The subcommittee also announced a Feb. 23 hearing on transportation safety, where Wolf might talk about his proposal to transfer the Federal Highway Administration’s Office of Motor Carriers to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.