Graves Says Highway Bill May Not Pass Until After the 2012 Presidential Election

This story appears in the March 7 print edition of Transport Topics.

WASHINGTON — American Trucking Associations President Bill Graves said the next long-term transportation funding bill may not pass until after the 2012 elections.

Speaking to the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials here March 2, Graves said there’s no consensus in Congress, no money and no priority for a new bill.

“I believe once we get to the end of the fiscal year, we’re going to be well into the presidential politics of 2012,” Graves said. “I just think it’s going to be very unlikely that we’re going to see any consensus develop around any kind of robust, fully funded plan that we need.”

Graves said House Transportation and In-frastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.), who has vowed to push for a six-year reauthorization bill this year, has a short time frame to do so.

“He’s got two years to put his mark on transportation — and that’s not very long,” Graves said. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t hold out a lot of hope that they’re all going to get together and sing Kumbaya and we’re going to have a real quick solution to what the future of infrastructure is going to look like in this country.”

Meanwhile, Mica, also speaking to the group, underscored his intention to introduce and pass bipartisan legislation by the end of the year.

In recent weeks, his committee has conducted a series of field hearings across the country seeking testimony on local and regional transportation needs.

Mica said his plan would stabilize the financially ailing Highway Trust Fund and speed up highway and other projects hampered by bureaucratic red tape.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told AASHTO members that he’s also hoping for a six-year bill passed to by the end of the fiscal year.

“If we don’t get something significant done this year, I think it will be very difficult beyond this year just because next year is an election year,” LaHood said. “This is the year to do it.”

Alex Herrgott, a Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works staff member, said the committee has been working on a reauthorization bill for the past two years, but that getting a bill passed this year will be a challenge.

“Not only are we faced with tremendous funding challenges,

we also have tremendous disagreement about priorities,” Herrgott said. “So this isn’t like any other authorization we’ve had. It’s very complicated, very sensitive and with the lack of the gas tax as an effective proxy to address the needs that we have, we are at the point where we’re going to have to have some serious conversations.”

But Herrgott said the committee is hoping to begin marking up its portion of the reauthorization bill by Memorial Day. It would be ideal to get a bill passed by the Senate by early summer, Herrgott said.

John Horsley, AASHTO’s executive director, last week sent a letter to Congress supporting passage of legislation that would extend the existing highway funding law through the fiscal year ending Sept. 30.

The law, which initially expired Sept. 30, 2009, has since been operating on a series of short-term extensions.