DALLAS -- A proposed short-term federal budget extension that would freeze highway and transit spending at 2016 levels until after the November election would short-change states expecting a funding increase in fiscal 2017, transportation experts warn.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said late last week that he is considering asking lawmakers to approve a continuing budget resolution that would keep federal departments open until Dec. 9.
A stopgap measure is needed because Congress has not passed an overall budget bill for fiscal 2017 or the Transportation Department budget bill needed to keep federal transportation funding flowing past the end of fiscal 2016 on Sept. 30, said Bud Wright, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
"Once again, Congress has introduced a disruptive element of uncertainty about when it will release promised funds to transportation programs," Wright said.
If a continuing budget resolution passes both the Senate and House before fiscal 2017 begins on Oct. 1, state transportation agencies will be eligible only for the same federal funding levels they had in 2016 until a longer term measure is adopted, Wright said.
The states could still receive their full 2017 allocation, assuming that Congress passes a full-year funding measure after the November elections, he said.
Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, and several Republicans in the House said they want the short-term spending bill to extend into next year to avoid making budget decisions during a lame-duck legislative session. Senate Democrats said they would oppose a longer extension.
The five-year Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, PL 114-95, that was signed into law in December 2015 provided $43.1 billion of federal highway aid and $11.8 billion of transit funding to states in fiscal 2016, which ends after Sept. 30 The allocations for fiscal 2017 in the FAST Act total $12 billion of transit funding and $44 billion of highway aid.
The investment levels and federal program stability promised under the FAST Act require timely enactment of annual appropriations bills that adhere to the new law's authorization levels, according to the Joint Committee of AASHTO, the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, and the Associated General Contractors of America "Putting off enactment of a fiscal year 2017 appropriations bill for the Department of Transportation until well into calendar year 2017—as some members of Congress are currently proposing—would needlessly delay critical highway and public transportation investment increases and renew uncertainty about future federal aid funding," the joint committee said in a statement.
The Senate in May adopted a 2017 budget bill for the Transportation Department that provides levels of state highway and transit aid consistent with the FAST Act.
The Senate bill, which passed by a vote of 87-8, also includes $525 million for the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery competitive grant program, up from $500 million in fiscal 2016.
The House Appropriations Committee passed a transportation budget for 2017 that cut TIGER grants to $450 million. The House committee's vote came one week after the Senate passed its measure.
The committee's bill does not include a rescission provision in the Senate bill that would take back $2.2 billion of unobligated state transportation spending authority from previous funding bills. The Senate proposal is in addition to the FAST Act's scheduled $7.6 billion rescission at the end of fiscal 2020.
A compromise 2017 transportation budget bill should avoid the funding rescission in the Senate measure, the transportation groups said.
"Rescinding unobligated highway contract authority is a Washington, D.C., budget gimmick that impedes the flexibility of state departments of transportation to meet their individual infrastructure needs," the committee said it in its statement.
