Congress completed action on a thirty-day Continuing Resolution to keep government programs operating in the new fiscal year while it continues to debate the necessary appropriations bills for the various federal agencies. Included in the legislation is a thirty-day spending authorization for the highway and transit programs. This action was necessary because SAFETEA-LU, the current transportation authorization, expired on September 30. In a last minute change of heart, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Ranking Republican Jim Inhofe (Okla.) attempted to get the Senate to pass a three-month extension of authorization that included a provision to eliminate an $8.7 billion rescission of highway spending authority. Until now, the Senate transportation leaders have supported the Obama administration's request that authorization be extended for eighteen months until March 2011. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) continues to press for Congress to complete action now on a six-year authorization bill and therefore has sought to limit the length of an extension, which lead to the House passing a three-month extension last week. The House bill, however, does not address the rescission problem because House rules require that eliminating the rescission must be offset with other spending cuts or revenue increases. Sens. Boxer and Inhofe attempted to identify acceptable offsets but we not successful. The thirty day reprieve hopefully gives transportation leaders time to work on a strategy for moving forward with a long-term authorization. While the rescission was implemented as of midnight last night, Sen. Boxer indicated that she will continue to attempt to find a way to ensure that states are not required to cut their highway programs.

The Associated Press reported on surface and air transportation funding bills that are unlikely to include major improvements or additional funding due to lawmakers' concentration on health care. In the article, AGC's chief executive officer Steve Sandherr called for a long-term investment instead of short-term fixes.

The U.S. Department of Transportation announced that it has received 1381 applications requesting $56.9 billion in funding for a variety of transportation projects through its TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) discretionary grant program.  The TIGER grants were created in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and provided $1.5 billion for the program. The deadline for applications was September 15, 2009, and the deadline for announcing the successful submittals is February 17, 2010, although Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the decisions will be made by mid-January.Applications were received from all fifty states. Of the nearly $57 billion in grant requests, 771 (57%), totaling over $32 billion, were for highway and bridge projects; 220 (16%), totaling $10.7 billion, were for transit projects; 125 (9%), totaling $5.6 billion, were for rail projects; and 96 (7%), totaling $3.38 billion, were for port projects. Funds can be awarded to state and local governments or transit agencies on a competitive basis for projects that will have a significant impact on the nation, a metropolitan area or a region. Project size is limited to no more than $300 million and no more than 20% of the funds can go to any single state. DOT has also said that projects seeking over $100 million will be subject to an economic cost-benefit analysis. State matching requirements are waived and priority is given to projects that are projected for completion within 3 years.

The president is expected to sign legislation completed this week by the House and the Senate for a three-month extension to authorize  programs of the Federal Aviation Administration, which is scheduled to expire Sept. 30. H.R. 3607 continues federal aviation programs through Dec. 31, providing $1 billion in funding for the Airport Improvement Program. This action was necessary because Congress has been unable to come to an agreement on a long-term reauthorization. FAA's authorizing legislation expired in 2007 and has been extended six times since then. The House passed its four-year authorization measure May 21 (H.R. 915). In the Senate, the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee has reported a two-year bill (S. 1451), but the Finance Committee, which must act on the revenue title, has not taken action.

Congress has taken no action this week to repeal an $8.7 billion rescission of federal highway funds set to hit the states on September 30. While for some states this will not have a direct effect, in many states the rescission will result in an actual cut in funding for highway construction projects. Congress included the $8.7 billion rescission in SAFETEA-LU as a way to make the total funding in the bill fit within federal budgeting parameters. At the time, the intent was to find other budget offsets to prevent the rescission from actually being implemented. However, Congress never took the necessary action. The impact on states will vary depending on the amount of unobligated budget authority each has on the books and in which highway funding categories.

By a vote of 335 to 85 the House today voted to support a three month extension of authorization for the highway and transit programs which expire on September 30, 2009. The vote became embroiled in partisan gamesmanship when the Republican leadership opposed the bill being considered under a parliamentary procedure that required a two-thirds majority for passage but did not allow for amendments. House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee ranking republican John Mica (R-FL) said during the debate that the Republican leadership wanted the opportunity to offer an amendment to indicate opposition to increasing the federal gas tax as part of the reauthorization effort. On the final vote 87 republicans voted against the extension with no democrats voting in opposition. House T&I Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN) continues to champion the effort to enact a six year reauthorization measure with significantly increased funding. He favors limiting the length of an extension to three months so that Congress will continue to make progress on passage of a long term bill. The Obama Administration and key members of the Senate are pushing for an eighteen month extension to delay debate on the legislation and how to provide the necessary revenue until 2011. The Senate will consider its version of the extension later this week or early next week.AGC and our Transportation Construction Coalition and American for Transportation Mobility coalition partners mobilized in advance of the vote by contacting republican members seeking their support for the extension. AGC contacted House members and pointed out the need for the extension to ensure that there is no disruption in the program while work continues on a six year measure. AGC pointed out that unemployment in the construction industry is at 16.5 percent, double the overall unemployment rate and that a long term and significantly increased funding is needed to not only meet the nation's transportation needs but for contractors to make decisions about hiring and training employees and investing in new equipment.

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) plans to limit the length of an extension of highway and transit program spending authorization in order to press for a multi-year transportation authorization bill. It is unclear at this time how long an extension Chairman Oberstar will support. SAFETEA-LU expires on September 30, and Congress must take action to allow the programs to continue uninterrupted.Prior to its summer recess, Congress passed legislation to transfer $7 billion into the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) to ensure that there would be no slow down in reimbursements to states for ongoing construction projects. Congressional Budget Office projections indicate that HTF revenue, coupled with the general fund transfer, is sufficient to keep the trust fund solvent for several more months.The Senate is expected to soon bring up legislation reported from Committee prior to the summer recess to extend highway and transit authorization for 18 months until March 2011. The Senate intends to include in the authorization extension an addition to a general fund transfer to ensure the HTF remains solvent through March 2011. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) indicated that she intends to continue drafting a multi-year bill during this extension. An amendment to limit the extension in the Senate to less than 18 months is expected.The Obama Administration has called for an 18-month extension for the program, coupled with an additional infusion of general fund revenue to keep the programs at a steady funding level. The president does not appear to be ready to address a long-term program authorization at this time.AGC continues to advocate the need for six-year reauthorization legislation with significantly increased revenues to address the nation's growing transportation infrastructure deficit while working to ensure there is no disruption in program funding in the interim.For more information, contact Brian Deery at (703) 837-5319 or deeryb@agc.org.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has issued guidance http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/economicrecovery/guidancedexeccomp.html to states clarifying that contractors working on federal-aid highway contracts funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) are not required to report the compensation of their five mostly highly compensated officers. FHWA issued the guidance to clear up confusion about what is required to be reported. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which is charged with issuing guidance for federally assisted contracts under this program, called for recipients and subrecipients of ARRA funds to report the total annual compensation of the five most highly compensated officers of the company. AGC questioned whether this was intended to apply to contractors working on federally-assisted projects funded with ARRA funds. As a result, FHWA asked OMB to clarify the application of these provisions. OMB advised FHWA that for federally-assisted projects, the reporting requirements on executive compensation apply only to direct recipients and their subrecipients. The executive compensation requirements do not apply to contractors working for either the recipient of Federal financial assistance or its subrecipient. Contractors working on direct contracts with the Federal government, however,  are covered under guidance issued by the Federal Acquisition Regulatory (FAR) Council which calls for reporting of this information.

Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) is the latest speaker to confirm participation at AGC's Highway and Utility Contractor's Issues Meeting scheduled for November 12-14, 2009 at the PGA National Resort in Palm Gardens, Florida. Rep. Blumenauer is a member of the House Ways and Means Committee and has been a leading advocate for increasing Highway Trust Fund revenue to address transportation needs and creation of a Clean Water trust Fund to address water infrastructure needs and is also working on legislation to provide tax credits for contractors to replace their off road diesel powered vehicles to meet clean air requirements. Rep. Blumenauer will discuss the outlook for highway reauthorization and increased infrastructure funding. Also participating will be:A key Federal Railroad Administration representative will present the Administration's high speed rail initiative and the construction opportunities that will result from this investment.A forum on the use of computer modeling (BIM/virtual design) for highway and water projects will include representatives from software companies Bentley and Autodesk and will feature a jobsite presentation from an experienced contractor. Caterpillar will have a representative to describe the latest developments for integrating construction equipment into the BIM model.Attorney John Mullen will report on the top legal decisions of the year that may impact your business.State DOT representatives will discuss the use of contractor performance measures for prequalification, latest design-build developments including a financing option, alternate bid items for selecting concrete or asphalt pavements, performance specifications, value engineering/ practical design and recycled materials in concrete and asphalt.How will Green Construction initiatives impact highway construction projects?Washington update on legislation currently being addressed in Congress. Additional information including schedule, hotel and registration is available here. http://www.agc.org/cs/event_details?eventId=1653

With SAFETEA-LU authorization scheduled to expire on September 30, action is necessary to keep the highway and transit programs operating. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN) announced his intention to move a 3 month extension this week out of Committee with floor consideration next week. Chairman Oberstar opposes a longer extension because he believes it will undermine efforts to enact a six year reauthorization bill. The Senate is preparing to bring to the floor legislation to extend the programs for 18 months until March 2011. Senate committees have already passed the needed legislation, including the Finance Committee which included a $20 billion transfer from the general fund to keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent for the eighteen months. The Senate is supporting the Administration's request to hold off on a multi-year extension until 2011.