Jobs Bill to Add Billions to DOT Budget

The House is expected to vote this afternoon on a trio of intertwined measures that will extend the Department of Transportation’s highway program at current budget levels, puts the Highway Trust Fund on a firmer financial footing, and allocates nearly $49 billion for infrastructure projects.

The keystone of the three is the Jobs for Main Street Act of 2010 that was reported out of the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday. The bill directs $75 billion in the Troubled Asset Relief Program to expand jobs programs in several departments.

The bill allocates $48.7 billion to DOT, including $27.5 billion for highway infrastructure, $8.4 billion for transit, $800 million for Amtrak, $500 million for airports, and $100 million for the Maritime Administration’s Title XI loan guarantee program.

The bill also will return $20 billion in HTF interest that was surrendered to the U.S. general fund in 1998 when Congress passed the highway bill known as TEA-21, said Jim Berard, press secretary for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

The bill also allows the trust fund to keep interest earned on revenue it collects. Berard said the combination of the repatriated interest, plus current fuel tax revenue and interest, should make HTF holdings some $53 billion by the end of fiscal 2010.

Last July, Congress approved a $7 billion HTF infusion from the general fund. At the time it was intended to keep the fund solvent; however, Berard said that according to the Federal Highway Administration, the HTF has enough to keep disbursing funds at current levels through July 2010.

The Senate is not expected to take up the jobs bill until after the New Year, so the House passed two related continuing resolutions to keep DOT highway spending at current levels. First the House passed a resolution that will extend the highway program through Dec. 23 to give the Senate time to vote on an appropriations bill for the Department of Defense.

The Defense bill includes a provision that will extend the highway program until February 2010 to give the Senate time to consider the jobs bill.

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