Congress Shuts Down Highway Program

Congress adjourned for the week without enacting legislation to extend highway and transit program spending authority beyond the February 28, 2010 deadline. As a result, states will not be reimbursed for payments for ongoing contracts starting on Monday and FHWA employees will be furloughed on Tuesday. Since the House will not be back in session until Tuesday and the Senate is not scheduled for a vote until Tuesday afternoon, this stalemate cannot be resolved until late next week at the earliest. Two pending bills were intended to keep this shutdown from occurring but efforts to pass either bill have been stymied. The "Jobs" bill passed by the Senate this week would have extended highway program authorization through the end of the year and provided additional Highway Trust Fund revenue to keep the program solvent. When that bill was sent to the House, it encountered opposition from the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats who raised concerns that the non-highway provisions in the bill violate the House statutory PAYGO budget rules requiring an offset for increased spending. In addition, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar (D-Minn) asked members to oppose the extension because he objected to the formulas used in the Senate bill to distribute the highway funding. The Senate bill guaranteed that each state receive the same amount of money under the extension as it received in FY 2009. In addition, there was resentment from House members that most of the provisions from the House-passed jobs bill were not included. Since it did not appear likely that the House could pass an extension before February 28, a thirty-day extension was included in a separate bill providing extensions for several other programs also set to expire at midnight on Sunday, which the House adopted. When that bill was brought up in the Senate, Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY) objected to these extensions on budgetary grounds. In order to get past Sen. Bunning's objections, a cloture motion, requiring 60 votes in support, is necessary. This procedure has time requirements that will keep the bill from moving forward for several days. The House could still overcome objections to the "Jobs" bill and pass that. AGC is contacting key Senators and representatives pointing out the devastating impact this shut-down will have on the highway construction industry and urging them to resolve these differences quickly. You are urged to call your Senators and representative with the same request. To be connected to your elected officials, call the US Capitol switchboard at: 202-224-3121. A letter to your members of Congress will be posted to http://www.bipac.net/issue_alert.asp?g=AGC&issue=HTF&parent=AGC.