August 22, 2011
by Leslie Wollack
With Congressional leaders at home for the August recess and unemployment numbers still high, advocates are stepping up the pressure for action on a new transportation bill that will put people back to work and get the economy moving.
Congress returns to a packed agenda next month, including a September 30 deadline to fund all government programs. Among these are federal transportation programs and the federal taxes that support them, which must be authorized by Congress. It is likely that Congress will include extension of the highway, bridge and transit programs in an overall spending bill, but it is unclear what that extension will look like and what the spending levels will be.
There is some concern that members of Congress might be willing to let the federal gas tax expire on September 30, which had not been considered a possibility until the partisan dispute that led to a partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). That dispute involved a disagreement between the House and Senate on the 20th short-term extension of FAA programs, including airport improvement grants and the federal tax that supports current and future municipal airport construction.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood worked with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to come up with a last-minute agreement that returned 4,000 furloughed FAA employees to work and restored federal authority to collect airport taxes after a two-week lull. But that agreement expires September 16.
The federal gasoline tax typically expires two years after an authorization bill. However, since Congress has adopted seven short-term extensions of federal transit, highway and bridge programs since the expiration in September 2009 of SAFETEA-LU, the two deadlines now coincide. Transportation advocates are fearful that threats from some anti-tax groups in opposition to the federal gasoline tax would mean a complete shutdown of federally funded transportation projects and en end to federal authority to collect federal fuel and transportation related taxes after September 30.
Congress has only 24 days after Labor Day to enact a long-term continuing resolution to fund all government programs and to extend the federal transportation programs.
However, according to the The Hill newspaper, having left town earlier this month amid controversy and partisan squabbles over the debt ceiling and the partial shutdown of the FAA, Republican leaders are looking to avoid more spending battles over that would shut the government down.
In addition to concerns over the extension of the gas tax, transportation advocates also are worried about House-proposed spending levels for transportation.
Last month, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) released a 22-page summary of the proposed six-year $230 billion transportation authorization bill, which was criticized by House Democrats and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for a proposed 34 percent cut in highway and transit programs.
The bill would also collapse many of the current transportation programs into a “block grant” for states to spend and proposes changes in the environmental review process, which would result in funding decreased from $51 billion to $35 billion per year.
In the House proposal, the majority of funds in the federal highway program would be distributed by formula to states and the focus of the program would be the interstate and the national highway systems.
The proposal would expand the over-subscribed Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act credit program, which provides federal credit for transportation projects of national or regional significance.
Both the House and Senate have included an expansion of the program in their authorization proposals. This innovative finance program leverages private funds and features other terms very helpful for infrastructure projects.
The bill would permit tolling on new interstate lanes, but not on existing interstates. The current 10 percent enhancement set-aside would be eliminated, but projects such as bike paths would still be eligible for federal funding at state discretion.
In the Senate, a bipartisan leadership proposal by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee was released.
This proposal would fund federal surface transportation programs at current levels for two years with a large increase in federal credit programs.
Shortly before the Senate recessed in August, Senate Majority Leader Reid announced that the Senate Finance Committee had identified a source for the additional funding, but no details were released.
The Senate Banking Committee criticized the transit portion of the House bill and released a chart demonstrating the state-by-state impact of the proposed House cuts.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee also did an analysis.
With Congress at home, local officials are encouraged to meet with their representatives and urge them to extend federal transportation programs at current levels, letting them know what these projects mean to local economies and the impact that any interruption to the federal gasoline tax would have.