Oberstar to Offer Highway Bill White Paper

House Transportation Committee chairman James L. Oberstar, D-Minn., is expected to unveil a white paper tomorrow outlining the upcoming multi-year highway bill, but it probably will not contain details about the funding levels, revenue sources, or tax provisions necessary to pay for transportation programs, sources said yesterday.

The document is expected to show the chairman's plans for policy changes and programs that will be included in the forthcoming bill that would replace the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: a Legacy for Users, or SAFETEA-LU, which expires Sept. 30.

However, sources said it is not expected to detail the more controversial aspect of the bill: how those plans will be paid for, such as with a gasoline tax increase. But the white paper may detail a new program that would be predicated on metropolitan areas being granted new bonding abilities.

Industry stakeholders said the bill may be introduced as a policy document without the contentious funding portion in order to allow that to be hashed out in the Senate. But such a tactic would be politically risky, one said, because it would give opponents ample room to question whether the programs would require major tax increases.

"Any opponent would probably make the worst-case scenario, worst set of assumptions," said Jack L. Schenendorf, a former chief staffer for the House Transportation Committee.

Transportation bills with funding provisions typically are introduced in the House Transportation Committee, then the House Ways and Means Committee approves the tax portion of the bill, and finally the House Rules Committee prepares the legislation to be voted on by the House.

The white paper is expected to provide a glimpse into how reauthorization legislation would redefine the nation's infrastructure.

Major stakeholders have been pushing for Congress to authorize a short-term increase of at least 10 cents for the federal gasoline tax, index the tax to inflation, and ease restrictions on tolling. There is also broad support for transitioning the country away from fuel taxes and toward mileage-based fees as the main source of transportation revenue.

Various groups have requested $500 billion to more than $1 trillion of total investment in transportation infrastructure over the life of the six-year bill.

A hand-written outline that was presented to some key stakeholders by Oberstar last month revealed the committee chairman's intentions to launch a new congestion program with several bond components to benefit 68 metropolitan areas.

The program could include provisions for tax-credit bonds, tax-exempt bonds, grant anticipation or Garvee bonds, private-activity bonds, state infrastructure banks, tolling and congestion pricing, and a federal loan component, according to the chairman's statements and the outline.

The chairman is expecting next week to introduce a bill that is about 800 pages long, said committee spokesman Jim Berard.

But the white paper released tomorrow could be anywhere from 10 to 100 pages long, depending on whether it is a skeletal outline or a more detailed summary of the legislation, sources said.

"We are absolutely thrilled that the chairman has moved this forward. It's like kickoff at the football game," said Janet Kavinoky, director of transportation infrastructure for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "We've just got to make sure everyone works to keep the ball moving down the field."

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