Committee Poised to Introduce Transportation Bill

Leaders of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee are ready to introduce a new surface transportation bill, but want a commitment from the Senate Finance Committee to find a way to pay for it, a Capitol Hill source said this morning.

The committee will propose a two-year transportation bill that will cost $12 billion more than anticipated revenue from the Highway Trust Fund. Committee leaders believe it has a better chance of passing than the traditional six-year bill.

The bill has strong bipartisan support from the committee’s “Big Four”: Chairman Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., the ranking member, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Sen. David Vitter, R-La., the chairman and ranking member of the highway subcommittee.

Baucus also is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. EPW leaders are taking the unusual step of getting Finance to commit to finding a way to pay for the bill. In the usual course of business, a committee passes an authorizing bill, then leaves it up to Finance to find funding.

According to the source, Boxer would like to hold hearings and pass the bill to the Senate in July.

-- Contact R.G. Edmonson at bedmonson@joc.com.