AASHTO Journal, 30 October 2015
The House is expected to debate and vote within days on a six-year authorization of highway and transit programs, after both chambers of Congress extended the surface transportation program authority for three weeks and the House elected Paul Ryan, R-Wis., as its new Speaker.
In a week packed with major actions on Capitol Hill, Congress also approved a two-year budget agreement that departing Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and other congressional leaders had quietly negotiated with the White House and was first reported early in the week. It also extends the federal debt limit to March 2017.
While not directly a surface transportation issue since Highway Trust Fund programs are not subject to appropriation, getting the budget deal measure through Congress puts off the risk of federal government shutdowns over budget issues or debt deadlines as Ryan takes over House leadership and through the 2016 election year when voters will choose much of Congress and the next president.
The House passed the budget deal on Oct. 28, and Boehner left office as Speaker the next day upon Ryan’s election. The Senate passed it early Friday morning and sent the package on to the White House.
But in what was a suddenly packed legislative schedule ahead of a looming Oct. 29 HTF expiration, House floor consideration of a long-term highway and transit bill was pushed into the first week of November. So the House on Oct. 27 and the Senate on Oct. 28 agreed by voice vote to extend the trust fund to Nov. 20.
That extension did not include any additional HTF funding, since the U.S. Department of Transportation has said the trust fund has enough money on hand for now. However, it did include a three-year extension of a deadline for railroads to install safety features called “positive train control.”
Although not officially scheduled, the House is expected to take up passage of the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform Act that advanced out of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Oct. 22.
Once the House passes its measure, then negotiators from the House and Senate would need to work quickly as a conference committee to sort out differences between their bills to avoid the need for another short-term extension.”
Such conferences often take many weeks or even months before producing a final product, so getting the work done before Nov. 20 could be a challenge. If it can’t meet that deadline, Congress would need to pass yet another short extension to keep the trust fund operating.
Still, staffs from both sides could have already gotten started reviewing potential issues since they have now had weeks to view the House committee bill and months to look at the Senate measure.
Some key lawmakers said the bills are similar enough that a House-Senate conference could work quickly.
Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., who chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee that took the lead on the Senate bill, has predicted Congress can send President Obama a final bill​ to sign by Thanksgiving (Nov. 26), a goal later embraced as well by T&I Chairman Bill Shuster, R-Pa.
The Senate’s DRIVE Act includes both a six-year authorization of highway and transit programs and a four-year authorization of federal rail programs, principally Amtrak. The House STRRA covers only the highway and transit pieces, but the House had already approved an Amtrak authorization bill that could be included in negotiations over a comprehensive surface transportation package.
Questions remained over how the House planned to pay for its package. Speaker Ryan had chaired the revenue-raising Ways and Means Committee that would come up with the pay-fors, but had not said how he planned to cover a major surface transportation bill’s costs.
The Senate DRIVE Act included revenues generated from non-user based revenue to offset the first three years of funding in the Act. Continuation of programs after 2018 would require additional revenues generated from traditional user fees or other sources.