DOT Starts Furloughs Over Funding Hitch

Charging that “political games” are forcing a partial shutdown of federal operations and support to states, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said nearly 2,000 employees are being furloughed starting March 1 after Congress let highway programs expire.

LaHood said the furloughs, without pay, mean the Department of Transportation was temporarily halting reimbursements to states worth hundreds of millions of dollars for highway work already done, plus multimillion-dollar construction in process.

LaHood singled out the actions Feb. 25 and 26 by Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Fla., who blocked Senate legislation to approve a $15 billion jobs bill because lawmakers did not include ways to pay for it. Authority to extend multiyear highway programs beyond their Feb. 28 expiration was included and caught in the legislative standoff, though its provisions do not add to the federal deficit.

Affected are programs and workers paid for out of the Highway Trust Fund. The DOT said it supports all surface transportation programs – highways, bridges, transit and safety inspections – plus efforts to encourage seat belt use and curb distracted or impaired driving.

“As American families are struggling in tough economic times, I am keenly disappointed that political games are putting a stop to important construction projects around the country,” LaHood said. “This means that construction workers will be sent home from job sites because federal inspectors must be furloughed.”

The DOT said the shutdown removes federal inspectors and thereby halts construction projects on federal lands. It posted a long list of highway projects around the nation that are stopped at the start of the work week.

It said the furloughs will affect employees funded by the Trust Fund at the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Research and Innovative Technology Administration.

Besides construction halts, the DOT said “work addressing texting while driving for commercial truck and bus drivers, electronic on-board recorders and hours of service will also be suspended.”

For a list of effects of the shutdown, supplied by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, click here http://transportation.house.gov/Media/file/press/DOT%20Shutdown%20fact%20sheet.pdf .

Contact John D. Boyd at jboyd@joc.com.