Attempt to Pass Bridges Bill Without Debate or Amendments Blocked in Senate
(from AASHTO Journal)
A House measure that would authorize $1 billion in new federal funds for bridge repair and inspection but also burden state transportation departments with numerous new mandates was blocked in the Senate last Friday. Senate Environment & Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, D-CA, asked the Senate for unanimous consent to pass HR 3999 without debate or amendment. But Sen. Wayne Allard, R-CO, objected on behalf of Republicans who disapproved of several provisions in the bill. Allard did not make any comments when rejecting Boxer's request on the Senate floor.
The bill was introduced last year by House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar, D-MN, after the Interstate 35W bridge spanning the Mississippi River collapsed in Minneapolis, killing 13 and injuring 145. "It shouldn't take a tragedy such as the one in Minneapolis to remind us that the safety of our bridges and highways and other infrastructure can be a matter of life and death," Boxer said. "If we are going to keep our people safe and our economy strong and healthy, we need to make a serious investment in our transportation infrastructure."
The American Association of State Highway & Transportation Officials has pointed out several issues with the bill including that it restricts the transfer of federal-aid bridge funds. States would have to demonstrate that they have no bridges on the National Highway System that are eligible for replacement to be able to transfer funds from the program. The Government Accountability Office recently confirmed that while some states often transfer money out of the restrictive federal bridge program to other accounts, they still spend significantly more money overall on bridge maintenance, rehabilitation, and replacement than provided in the federal bridge program. States are forced to make such transfers because of the inflexibility of the bridge program, AASHTO has argued.
The bill would also establish a risk-based prioritization process that requires the worst bridges to be fixed first, and restricts funding so that it could only be used for bridges that are rated "structurally deficient" or "functionally obsolete." This proposed process would contradict bridge asset management approaches, AASHTO notes, and pre-empts state responsibility for administration of the federal-aid bridge program. Representatives approved the legislation 357-55 on July 24. It is likely now dead for this Congress unless Boxer tries to bring it up again during a "lame duck" Senate session scheduled to begin Nov. 17 after the election.