Transportation bill extended one month, still unresolved

House, Senate cannot agree

Steve Hawley, Oct 07, 09.

The House and Senate passed an emergency one-month extension of the federal transportation bill known as SAFETEA-LU, but both houses failed to address longer-term issues, according to Streetsblog DC. SAFETEA-LU was extended just hours before it was set to expire on September 30.

However, Streetsblog DC also reports that Congress failed to act on an $8.7 billion cancellation of funds that will significantly impact state transportation budgets. Under the so-called rescission, states must return their unobligated funds to the federal government. According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Texas Department of Transportation lost $742 million in promised funds as a result:

Luckily, Texas didn’t count on receiving most of the $742 million in a timely fashion, so it doesn’t have to slam the brakes on existing projects, said Michael Morris, transportation director for the [North Central Texas] council of governments. Instead, it’s more likely that about $100 million in actual road work will be delayed, including perhaps $25 million or more in Dallas-Fort Worth.

“A lot of this money never existed,” Morris said. “It won’t affect the contracts of any jobs already awarded, but it will affect projects we were committed to in the next two years,” he said.

Congress has also not addressed a long-term transportation bill. This summer, the Obama administration, supported by the Senate, pushed for an 18-month extension of the current bill. The House, however, wanted to pass a new transportation bill by the end of September. The proposed $500 billion House bill would have slightly increased the ratio of transit funding to highway funding, as well as provided $50 billion for high-speed rail over six years. More recently, as it became clear that a bill would not pass by the September deadline, several House leaders proposed a three-month extension.

However, Bloomberg News reports that the Obama administration may be reconsidering the proposed 18-month extension as unemployment rises. Political aides say that a new transportation bill could act as a second stimulus package to create jobs, although there are also several other options on the table.