TIFIA Would Get $1B Annually as Part of Senate Bill

Senate transportation committee leaders have agreed to fund the TIFIA program at $1 billion per year as part of a six-year highway and transit funding bill that they plan to introduce in two weeks.

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee chairman Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., told reporters Wednesday that she and other top Democrats and Republicans on the committee plan to introduce a six-year bill authorizing total federal spending of $339.2 billion, or $56.5 billion dollars a year, representing current funding levels plus inflation.

The group — which includes the committee’s top Republican James Inhofe of Oklahoma, as well as Max Baucus D-Mont., and David Vitter, R-La., leaders of the transportation and infrastructure panel — released a joint statement saying they had reached “great progress” and found “common ground.”

Boxer told reporters: “We don’t have a final bill, we have all the agreements necessary in place to write that final bill.”

TIFIA, the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act, was funded at $110 million this year but was vastly oversubscribed as applications for assistance totaled more than $1 billion. The program provides direct loans, loan guarantees, and standby lines of credit to finance surface transportation projects of national and regional significance.

The four senators agreed to ease some of the rules for TIFIA. The maximum amount of assistance that could be used for a project would increase to 49% from 33%. Transportation programs containing several individual projects could be financed as a group, rather than individually, and money would be available for rural areas on more favorable terms. The senators also agreed to eliminate earmarks from the bill and consolidate programs.

Other lawmakers and transportation groups said they were encouraged, but did not seem overly optimistic.

“It’s encouraging to see the Senate moving forward, and that there appears to be bipartisan, bicameral agreement on an agenda to reform and streamline programs and speed up the project approval process,” said a spokesman for House Transportation Committee chairman Rep. John Mica. R-Fla.

“We are encouraged that the Senate is moving forward toward enactment of a transportation bill,” said John Horsley, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.

American Trucking Association president Bill Graves said, “We’re encouraged that this bipartisan group of senators is making progress toward enacting a long overdue highway ­reauthorization.”

The muted reaction stems from the fact that there is no agreement on how to pay for current spending levels, as the Highway Trust Fund lacks sufficient revenue to meet transportation needs. Also, the chances for getting a six-year bill are considered slim and some lawmakers and lobbyists have suggested a shorter two-year plan may be more realistic.

“Either they’re going to do no bill and kick the can down the road again, or a short-term bill,” said Melissa Loesburg of ICI Group. Her firm estimates at best a 25% chance of a traditional, multi-year bill passing the Congress.

Boxer said that while the Senators want a six-year bill, “if we can’t get six we’ll look at five, four, three, two.”

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Transportation industry Washington
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