Two-Year Transportation Bill Approved by Senate Committee
The Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee recently voted 18 to zero to approve a bipartisan, $109 billion, two-year surface transportation bill called ”Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century“ (S. 1813). “MAP-21″ maintains current funding levels for highways and provides another $2 billion for federal credit assistance for projects. Three other U.S. Senate committees – Banking, Finance and Commerce, Science, and Transportation – are expected to add provisions to the bill regarding transit, revenue, and safety and freight.
Senator James M. Inhofe (R-OK), the top Republican on the committee, who drafted the bill together with committee chairwoman Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), said the measure still has a $12 billion shortfall because of declining revenue in the highway trust fund, which is funded with gas taxes and other user fees that are used for highway programs.
Senator Boxer said the bill would protect 1.8 million existing transportation jobs and create up to one million more jobs by leveraging federal funds. For example, the bill would increase funding by $1 billion per year for the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) program, which provides federal loans, loan guarantees and standby lines of credit to finance surface transportation projects of national and regional significance. The bill would also increase from 33% to 49% the total amount of TIFIA credit assistance that could be used for transportation projects.
Transportation groups, most of whom seek longer-term legislation, nevertheless applauded the committee’s action and urged lawmakers to move the bill forward. The last reauthorization bill, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users, expired in September 2009 and has been temporarily extended eight times.
