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 were 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.
Read more about the effect of the rescission in the Denver Business Journal.
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