House and Senate leaders may soon include a six-month extension of the current transportation law in an omnibus appropriations bill, as the Dec. 18 expiration date of the latest extension approaches, sources said Friday.
Transportation and infrastructure proponents in the House also may put forward a two-year infrastructure funding measure that would be intended as a front-loaded investment leading up to a multi-year reauthorization bill, a market participant said yesterday.
There has been no agreement on whether the extension or funding would be in the omnibus bill, and no bill has been introduced yet.
But President Obama threw what some transportation advocates saw as a curve ball during a jobs summit Thursday when he said some projects do not provide immediate job creation.
During a roundtable discussion on infrastructure jobs, Washington Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond presented results of a recent American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials survey that found $69 billion of ready-to-go highway, bridge, transit, port, rail, and aviation projects.
“We know that investments in transportation ... provide immediate jobs for the economy,” she said.
Obama said, however, that allocating job-creation funds in transportation has lately been a source of tension in his administration.
He said shovel-ready projects don’t always “live up to [their] billing” in transportation. There can be a longer timeline between when money is authorized and when it begins creating jobs, he said.
The president added that tension has arisen when “what is good long term” conflicts with the short-term goal of job creation.
Projects that are actually ready to go — repaving, maintenance, or fix-it projects — may create jobs but are tied to “the past ... as opposed to projects that are visionary and will really give a big bang for the buck, long term, but require some extensive planning,” he said.
Obama said the administration is trying to find a way to “make shovel-ready more shovel-ready.”
However, as recently as Nov. 3, the U.S. Department of Transportation trumpeted the amount of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds that have been obligated for transportation. The Federal Highway Administration said then that more than 75% of the $26.6 billion total ARRA funds for federal highway and bridge projects had been obligated.
“The Recovery Act is helping repair America’s roads and bridges while putting people back to work,” said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.
FHWA Administrator Victor Mendez said then that such projects “are improving the economy and local quality of life.”
