WASHINGTON — House Republicans plan to soon introduce a five-year surface transportation reauthorization bill that would be partly paid for by revenues from expanded domestic energy production, Speaker John Boehner announced Thursday.
But the Ohioan did not provide any details about the bill, to be called the American Energy Infrastructure Jobs Act (HR 7), other than to say he hopes the House will vote on it before the end of the year.
Transportation industry sources said they have been told the bill will be introduced in time for the House Transportation Committee to vote on it during the first week of December and that the measure is likely to cost roughly $52 billion per year, or a total of $260 billion.
Boehner earlier this year said he wanted to maintain current funding levels for highway and other surface transportation programs, and industry sources said $52 billion per year would be sufficient to do that.
However, the expected provisions to expand domestic energy production — which Boehner said would be “fiscally responsible,” unlike higher taxes or deficit spending — may be a non-starter for some Democrats, sources said.
The bill will contain provisions to increase private-sector involvement in infrastructure, according to Boehner.
Industry sources expect the bill will expand by $1 billion per year the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act program, which provides federal loans, loan guarantees, and standby lines of credit to finance surface transportation projects of national and regional significance. That would be in line with the framework of reauthorization legislation proposed earlier this year by House Transportation Committee chairman Rep. John Mica, R-Fla. He proposed expanding TIFIA programs by $1 billion per year.
“It could be a good marriage between energy independence, energy sector jobs, and infrastructure jobs altogether,” said Janet Kavinoky, executive director for transportation infrastructure at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “Everything hinges on what the details are and no one knows what the details are right now.”
Boehner held out hope that Democrats and Republicans will be able to forge an agreement on surface transportation legislation this year or next.
“I think there’s a lot of common ground between both parties on this issue,” he said Thursday.
The announcement of the forthcoming House Republican bill, which cynics said was designed to allow Republicans to go home for Thanksgiving and talk about something positive, comes after a Senate committee voted to approve a bipartisan, $109 billion, two-year surface transportation reauthorization bill on Nov. 9.
That bill, approved by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, is short $12 billion of revenues needed to pay for it, but Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., has promised to find them. TIFIA would be expanded by $1 billion per year under that bill.
Transportation industry officials have pushed for long-term reauthorization legislation ever since the last six-year reauthorization bill — the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users, or SAFETEA-LU — expired in September 2009. It has been temporarily extended eight times, with the latest extension to run through early next year.
