Administration Provides Details on Proposed 18 Month Transportation Program Extension

U.S. DOT today sent Congressional committees its proposal for an 18 month extension of authorization for federal surface transportation programs. Calling the proposal "Stage I Reauthorization," the administration asked for a $20 billion general fund transfer to keep both the federal-aid highway program and the federal transit program solvent through March 31, 2011.  The administration's proposal also calls for a series of policy changes that would begin to implement changes in the way these programs are administered. Last week Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Ranking Republican Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and several other committee members expressed support for providing the necessary funds and authorization to keep the programs operating for the next eighteen months, but opposed adopting any policy changes at this time. Members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, led by its bipartisan leadership, spoke out strongly against an 18 month extension, preferring to continue its effort to enact a full six year reauthorization measure. Consideration of the short term extension may be brought up as part of the DOT appropriations bill, which will be considered by the Senate Appropriations Committee when Congress returns next week. The Highway Trust Fund will be short of cash needed to reimburse states for ongoing construction projects as early as the first week of August and will have insufficient revenue in FY 2010 (beginning October 1, 2009) to maintain the program at its current funding level. The administration originally said that the general fund transfer necessary to solve this problem had to be offset with other spending cuts or tax increases. However, in today's proposal, the administration calls for the transfer to be paid for over ten years through a variety of options, including an international tax enforcement proposal. The policy recommendations are focused on beginning to implement the administration's objective of using transportation investment to create more "livable communities." Today's proposal calls for funding to allow states and localities to collect comprehensive transportation data to be used for making future transportation choices, develop standards for comparing different transportation modes and create stronger reporting and tracking requirements for  transportation investments. The administration's proposal also gives details on its proposal for a National infrastructure Bank to support regionally and nationally significant, high value transportation projects. The administration requests $2 billion in funding to initially capitalize the bank, which would provide financing assistance for relatively large and transformative projects that are currently underfunded. These could include freight and passenger rail, highway projects that consider land use and economic development and bridge construction that includes a rail line and harbor dredging.