Construction industry and state transportation officials are arriving on Capitol Hill this week to meet with their congressional representatives as efforts continue to pass a six-year highway and transit bill.
On Feb. 12, the Senate passed a six-year, $318 billion reauthorization. House members return from a congressional recess Feb. 24. Although a mark-up had tentatively been scheduled Feb. 25, it now appears a final bill may not be marked up until March, according to press accounts.
Meanwhile, House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Don Young, R-AK, is facing White House pressure to scale down his original $375 billion funding proposal. Some industry observers think reducing the bill by about $50 billion or more, to the Senate level of $318 billion, would be seen as by conservatives as acceptable fiscal restraint.
Toward that end, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas, R-CA, is in charge of finding other financing methods.
According to news reports, these may include the transfer of the 2.5 cent ethanol tax that now goes to the Highway Trust Fund; the restructuring of the 5.2 cent gasohol tax exemption to require that all fuels are taxed equally at the pump; crediting of interest on the balance in the Highway Trust Fund; drawing down the Highway Trust Fund balance; and other provisions.
Extension needed by Feb. 29
Some worry that Congress will enact a second short-term extension to keep highway and transit programs in operation after Feb. 29, when the current extension expires. The House last week passed a four-month extension (H.R. 3783), which would keep the federal programs operating until the end of June while allowing flexibility for transfer of funds between most categories.
But there is some uncertainty as to what may occur in the Senate, where transportation leaders have supported a shorter extension to maintain the pressure to complete action on the bill.
Meanwhile, state transportation officials and industry representatives from across the country this week will urge support of the reauthorization bill.
Among those are members of the Transportation Construction Coalition, which is co-chaired by the Associated General Contractors of America and the American Road and Transportation Builders Association; and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
