House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) issued a number of stern promises to a packed ballroom at the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) National Convention in Chicago on Thursday, Oct. 23.
The focus of his speech was the reauthorization of SAFETEA-LU, which expires in September 2009. He urged ARTBA members to push the issue with local legislators.
“We meet on the eve of a transformational time in transportation,” the Congressman said. “One thing I want to make clear, the next bill cannot and will not be business as usual. It will be transformational.
“We will not settle for bargain-basement deals like we did the last time.”
According to Oberstar, Congress did all it could to increase the funding levels of SAFETEA-LU. He said then-Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, who also addressed attendees at the ARTBA meeting, had several meetings with president George W. Bush to the point where he had worn out his welcome.
“He was told he was always welcome at the White House, as long as he did not discuss the [reauthorization bill],” Oberstar said.
Although the Minnesota representative did not stamp a specific dollar amount on the next bill (he has put it as high as $500 billion), he did outline the main points of his plan. The federal gas tax will still serve as the cornerstone of the funding, but Oberstar did call for the need for a vehicle-miles-traveled and weight tax. Models of the formula, he said, would be ready by late December so Congress would have plenty of time to address the tactic. He also stressed the need for the next reauthorization to be performance-based, where major metropolitan areas have benchmarks to reach in order to receive federal dollars.
Oberstar also called for project-permit expediting, and urged that the new Secretary of Transportation bring together the major players of the industry to discuss exactly what needs to be included in the next bill.
The negative effect of earmarks was another area of discussion, with Oberstar claiming that system simply does not work anymore. Hastert, however, defended the maneuver, stating Congress is only inserting the needs of the people they represent at the local level. He even went as far as to defend the “Bridge to Nowhere,” because it granted access to a major airport.
“The senators and representatives know what is needed in their district better than some guy behind a desk in Washington,” said Hastert.
