House Approves Transportation Extension
The House Tuesday voted to temporarily extend spending authorization for the nation’s road and aviation systems, avoiding a shutdown like the one last month that halted airport projects.
Under the bipartisan measure being sent to the Senate for approval, the surface transportation system would receive a temporary extension through March 31 and the Federal Aviation System an extension through Jan. 31.
In a rare display of bipartisanship, the extension bill was introduced by House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) and the committee’s ranking member, Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.), along with the Republican chairmen and the Democratic ranking members of the panel’s subcommittees.
John Horsley, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, said the extension will allow state transportation departments “to continue to deliver jobs for our nation’s economy while maintaining the funding continuity needed to operate and maintain a national transportation system.”
The bill temporarily maintains current spending levels and was void of any amendments that could cause political opposition in the Senate.
That was the case earlier this summer when an amendment was attached to the House aviation bill that drew opposition in the Senate, leading to the shutdown when the two chambers could not agree on a bill.
“While this legislation signifies a bipartisan, bicameral agreement to move forward, it must not be just a temporary band-aid for our important aviation, highway, rail and safety programs and for job creation,” Mica said in statement.
“To build our nation’s infrastructure and put people to work, we need long-term authorizations of these programs,” he said.
If the two extensions are agreed to in the Senate, it would be the 22nd extension for the FAA and eighth for the surface transportation system, the latter of which last expired in September 2009.
Both Mica and Rahall said after the vote that the extension agreement frees the House and Senate to begin work on long-term transportation reauthorization.
Mica has outlined a six-year transportation plan but has yet to introduce a bill. The same is true in the Senate, where Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) has outlined a two-year plan but has not introduced a bill.
But there is broad disagreement over what the nation should spend on transportation, with Mica saying his plan would cut current spending levels by more than 30% in keeping with the demands of House Republicans, who hold a majority.
That would mean about $34 billion in spending in each of the coming six years, a prospect that has generated intense opposition from Democrats, state transportation officials and road building interests who said such drastic cuts would decimate the transportation system and cost as many as 500,000 jobs. By comparison, Boxer’s plan is to spend $54 billion in each year of the two years her plan lays out.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has promised quick action, and some news reports said he will attach the extension measure as an amendment to a popular bill that calls for sanctions against Burma.
