The House Wednesday approved a three-month extension of authorization for the highway and transit programs that 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-Fla.) 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. The extension was approved 325-85.
House T&I Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) 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 determine finding the necessary revenue until 2011. The Senate is expected to consider its version of the extension later this week or early next week.
House and Senate conferees have drafted a Continuing Resolution to fund all government agencies that are not covered by an approved appropriations bill for the first 30 days of fiscal year 2010, which begins on October 1, 2009. Included in the CR is a provision to extend highway/transit authorization for one month should the separate extension effort not be passed in a timely fashion.
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