Highway Programs to Get One-Month Reprieve

Highway programs that are due to expire at midnight Wednesday will get a one-month reprieve if the Senate agrees to a continuing resolution on the fiscal 2010 federal budget.

House and Senate appropriations committees agreed to continue funding Department of Transportation programs, including the Highway Trust Fund at 2009 levels. The measure was included in a conference report to keep the federal government operating until lawmakers can complete the new budget.

The House approved the resolution on Sept. 25. The Senate is expected to pass it before the Wednesday deadline. As a conference report, both houses must pass it without amendments.

A one-month extension is a legislative fallback if House and Senate transportation committees cannot agree on a longer extension of the existing highway program. The House last week voted to extend the program through Dec. 31.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee was reportedly preparing a bill to extend the program until March 2011.

However, Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, ranking member of EPW's Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee, held up Boxer’s bill to pressure the Senate to agree to a 12-month highway extension. Voinovich is the most vocal senator in support of a new six-year transportation reform and spending bill sponsored by Rep. James L. Oberstar, D-Minn., chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Commission.

Boxer’s bill also would repeal a measure to rescind $8.7 billion in state contract authority for federal highway funds that have not been obligated to construction contracts. There is no companion language in the House bill.

John Horsley, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, said the loss could lead to project cancellations. Some states can draw on their own reserves to continue work. Overall states will lose some $3 billion.

If Congress doesn’t agree on a highway program extension by February 2010, the Department of Transportation will have to reduce monthly allocations to states from $3.5 billion to $2 billion, Horsely said.

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