While Democrats were herding votes for the $15 billion jobs bill, which was passed on Feb. 24, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid promised lawmakers that the Senate will indeed vote on the infrastructure measure, which could be as much as $500 billion, later this year. Reid is the one responsible for setting the Senate’s calendar to debate and vote on legislation.
“Reid gave me his commitment that he will bring the reauthorization of a multiyear surface transportation bill to the floor for a vote this year,” Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) told The Journal of Commerce. Voinovich said he was on the fence about the Senate’s $15 billion jobs bill, but Reid’s promise convinced him to approve it. “[Reid] assured me that he understands the importance of a surface transportation reauthorization bill.”
The White House continues to be in favor of delaying a new highway bill until at least mid-2011. The means of funding such a measure is still unknown.
Meanwhile, U.S. DOT Secretary Ray LaHood told the Senate Budget Committee on Feb. 24 that the agency has a backlog of $80-100 billion in high-priority infrastructure improvement projects.
“For a decade, we have really ignored infrastructure,” he told the committee. “We just have not put the resources into it. There are a lot of lousy bridges and roads that need to be constructed.”
The U.S. DOT received $60 billion worth of applicants for Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants, but only had $1.5 billion to allocate.
