Panel Eyes Transportation Extension

WASHINGTON - The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is expected to vote today on a bill that would extend the current transportation spending law until 2011, despite opposition from within the committee and from key House members.

Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, who serves as ranking minority member on the committee's transportation and infrastructure panel, said yesterday at a press conference that he will vote against an 18-month extension and may instead propose a 12-month extension during the committee meeting.

The current transportation law - the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: a Legacy for Users, or SAFETEA-LU - expires Sept. 30.

Voinovich said "several" of the committee members "will argue that we don't need" the 18-month extension.

The bill, based on a proposal by the Obama administration, would delay congressional consideration of a multi-year highway reauthorization bill, providing more time for lawmakers to first focus on health care and climate change legislation.

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman James L. Oberstar, D-Minn., who also opposes the extension, said it illustrates a parallel between the administrations of Obama and George W. Bush: the transportation law was extended 12 times before being replaced during the Bush administration.

Oberstar, other lawmakers and industry groups have warned that the extension would create uncertainty for state transportation officials who cannot begin multi-year planning without knowing what funds they will receive from the federal government. They propose simply transferring enough additional funds into the dwindling highway trust fund to keep it solvent until it expires, thereby pushing lawmakers to quickly proceed with the multi-year bill.

"We will still have enough money to pay states [from the highway trust fund] through the end of August," Oberstar said, adding that the fund will run dry starting the week of Sept. 4.

In addition, reauthorization is needed because the purchasing power of federal transportation grants to states and localities has fallen 47% to 48% over the past six years, making funding levels set by the current law inadequate, Oberstar said.

Voinovich argued that if Congress approves an extension instead of passing a "robust, break-the-mold highway bill," lawmakers would be "blowing this golden opportunity" to provide transportation-based economic stimulus.

However, the Senate environment committee's chairwoman, Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., has said that unless lawmakers and interest groups can reach consensus on the controversial subject of how to fund the $450 billion multi-year bill that is pending in the House, she will support an 18-month extension.

In the House, a number of key lawmakers may be on Oberstar's side. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she supports the passage of a reauthorization bill "this year," according to Oberstar.

The reauthorization has many hurdles to overcome and a tight timeline for action. The House Ways and Means Committee has yet to complete its work on the revenue portion of the bill, and the House Transportation Committee may not vote on the measure until that happens, according to a committee spokesman. When the two committees act, the bill would still be subject to approval by the full House.

Complicating matters, a congressional recess is set for August, immediately before the trust fund runs dry.

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