A Feb. 25 call from nearly 400 Transportation Construction Coalition (TCC) members for Congress to accept a six-year highway and transit funding bill of no less than $318 billion capped three weeks of rhetoric, lobbying and decisive, bipartisan measures in Washington, D.C. The TCC conducted a Feb. 24-25 fly-in so that members could impress upon their Congress persons the need to substantially increase surface transportation funding in legislation succeeding the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century. Although the bill expired Sept. 30, its funding levels were maintained by a five-month extension (ending Feb. 29).

The $318 billion target reflects the funding level of SAFETEA, a six-year TEA-21 reauthorization package the Senate passed on Feb. 12, leading up to a one-week Congressional recess beginning on President's Day (Feb. 16). Passed by a 76-21 vote, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient Transportation Equity Act includes funding for highways at a level of $255 billion, $56.5 billion for transit programs and additional monies for other highway-related programs.

TEMPORARY REPRIEVE

The excitement in Washington didn't end with the TCC fly-in. On February 26, the House approved a second funding extension for highway and transit programs. The legislation, which maintains funding through late April at an annualized level of about $33 billion, is consistent with a 2004 budget resolution Congress and the White House reached in early February. The following day, the Senate approved a similar extension bill, now clear for President Bush's signature. Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Joe Lieberman (D-CT) had blocked passage of the extension because they want to include language extending the expiration date of the independent commission investigating the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. However, Congressional leaders reached an agreement late on February 27 that allows for an extension of the 9-11 Commission. Coincidentally, McCain and Lieberman also were cosponsors of the Climate Stewardship Act, a measure that was defeated by the Senate last summer and had potentially negative implications for the cement industry, thanks to proposed production caps.

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Don Young (R-Alaska) had previously observed that a second extension would give him and his Senate colleagues additional time to complete a multi-year surface transportation bill. On the heels of the SAFETEA passage, the House would likely weigh the Senate bill provisions against Rep. Young's more ambitious ($375 billion) six-year plan detailed in Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy For Users (TEA-LU). While the Senate's $318 billion proposal was cited as a baseline in the Feb. 25 call to Congress, the TCC remained firmly behind TEA-LU, debate on which is expected to proceed in early March.

Congress' strong support for a TEA-21 reauthorization package exceeding $300 billion contrasts with a hard line that the White House has held since releasing a reauthorization plan in mid-2003 calling for a six-year, $256 billion package. The Bush Administration's position on keeping a reauthorization package within funding levels tied to existing user fee collections was underscored in a Feb. 3 letter from Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta and Treasury Secretary John Snow to congressional leadership. In that letter, they assured Capitol Hill that senior administration advisers would recommend President Bush veto any reauthorization plan contingent on increased gas taxes or non-Highway Trust Fund dollar allocation — funding mechanisms central to the House and Senate reauthorization plans, respectively. The three-quarters majority vote on SAFETEA in the Senate, coupled with wide co-sponsorship of TEA-LU in the House, foreshadows the potential for an override of any White House veto.

BEYOND SAFETEA FUNDING

Amid the back and forth on funding of surface transportation programs, the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved several measures, including its Views and Estimates on the Fiscal Year 2005 budget. “There are going to be some in Congress who believe that we should reduce all federal spending to balance the budget,” says Don Young (R-AK), Chairman of the Committee. “Those people simply do not understand that the users of our highways and airports pay for the care of those facilities. This is a system that pays its own way. Transportation infrastructure keeps our economy alive and well.”

The Committee will submit its FY 2005 Views and Estimates to the Budget Committee. Highlights include the following recommendations:

• Highway, transit, highway safety, and motor-carrier safety programs are to be funded at the levels set forth in H.R. 3550, the Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (TEA-LU).
• Aviation programs are to be funded at the levels authorized by the recently enacted Vision 100 — Century of Aviation Reauthorization Act. In particular, the Committee opposes the Administration's proposed cut in the Federal Aviation Administration's Facilities & Equipment program.
• Civil works programs of the Corps of Engineers are to be funded at $7.5 billion in FY 2005, substantially more than the $4.215 billion proposed by the Administration.
• Clean Water State Revolving Funds are to be funded at no less than $3 billion for FY 2005, the level set forth in H.R. 1560, the Water Quality Financing Act of 2003, as approved by the Water Resources and Development Subcommittee last year.