By an 18-1 vote, the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee approved an 18-month extension of spending authority for the federal highway program through March 31, 2011. The legislation authorizes the program in FY 2010 at the FY 2009 funding level of $41 billion and provides $20.5 billion in authority for the first six months of FY 2011.
The Senate Banking Committee also must pass an extension of the transit program and the Commerce Committee must take up safety programs. In addition, the Finance Committee is expected to include a $20 billion transfer of funds from the general fund to the Highway Trust Fund to ensure that there is sufficient revenue to reimburse states for ongoing construction projects for the remainder of FY 2009 and FY 2010. The bill is a “clean” extension, which does not include any policy provisions.
In an effort to keep pressure on Congress to enact a six-year transportation authorization measure, Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) attempted to amend the extension to 12 months, but that effort was defeated on an 11-8 vote.
The highway and transit programs face two related but separate problems. SAFTEA-LU expires on Sept. 30 and new authorization is needed to keep the program operating beyond that date. In addition, there is an insufficient balance in the Highway Trust Fund to pay for ongoing construction through the end of the fiscal year. Also, incoming HTF revenue would only support FY 2010 funding of about $20 billion.
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) is working to pass a six-year authorization bill and does not support the extension although he is proposing legislation to transfer $7 billion in general fund revenue to the HTF to keep it solvent through the end of this fiscal year. The Obama administration would prefer to put off the long-term extension of authorization and has proposed instead the 18-month extension. The administration also would like to include some policy initiatives in the 18-month extension.
The action by the EPW Committee would solve the short-term funding problem and keep the program operating beyond the end of the authorization expiration. EPW Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said she intends to have her committee continue to work on a six-year authorization but took the action to ensure there is no interruption in the program.
