Transportation Conference Committee Kicks Off Talks
May 9th, 2012 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
The surface transportation conference committee commenced its first meeting yesterday, with Senate and House conferees taking the opportunity to give opening remarks on what is anticipated to be one of the final hurdles in passing a transportation bill.
Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), author of MAP-21 (S. 1813) and chair of the conference committee, began the meeting with a statement highlighting the bipartisan Senate bill. Sen. Boxer stressed that “failure is not an option” and implored members to act quickly in hashing out compromise legislation, setting a target of early June for a deal to be struck. She was followed by Representative John Mica (R-FL), selected as vice-chair of the conference, who also stressed the economic importance of a bill.
The issues of Keystone XL, funding and financing options, an amendment stripping EPA of regulatory power over coal ash, and House language streamlining environmental policy still remained the most important issues needing compromise. However, it did appear during many of the remarks there existed support for the RESTORE Act, Senate TIFIA language, as well as the RAMP Act. The RESTORE Act would direct fines from oil companies responsible for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill to Gulf Coast restoration and clean-up efforts, and the RAMP Act would ensure revenue in the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund be dedicated and used solely for harbor maintenance programs.
The general feeling throughout the opening statements was far less acrimonious than the House Transportation and Infrastructure markup of H.R. 7, which saw lawmakers bicker over amendments into the early hours of the morning this past February. Throughout the opening statements, the majority of lawmakers around the table stressed how critical it was to work quickly to get this done and how vital a bill is to job creation, with both sides stressing the need to work for the American people. One memorable line came from Representative Nick Rahall, the ranking minority member on the House T&I committee – “we cannot let hard heads get in the way of hard hats”.
Congressional Recess Is Here, But A Surface Transportation Compromise Is Not Near
April 3rd, 2012 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
Congress went home last Friday for a two week recess after punting action on surface transportation another 90 days. Surface transportation programs have been running on a series of extensions for 916 days already, and this 9th extension will continue to add up the count until June 30th. Many in the transportation industry have grown extremely concerned that the House will not take action over the next three months and that programs will have to continue to run on extensions until after the November elections. Frustrations are at a boiling point now as state’s deal with the continued uncertainty coming from Capitol Hill, and as Republicans and Democrats continue to disagree on a path forward in the House. Legislators need to hear from their constituents why passing a new multi-year surface transportation bill is critical and why a continued series of extensions is unacceptable. Use the two week House recess to meet with your representative and tell them how the lack of a new surface transportation bill affects the civil engineering profession, your company, and your community. Share your stories with them in either a local town hall or by scheduling a meeting in a district office. While your Representative is home let’s use this opportunity to explain to legislators why a new bill is critical and let’s not allow their time at home to be a way to escape the needs of our nation’s infrastructure. Over the next 90 days ASCE will continue to urge the House of Representatives to take up and pass a bipartisan surface transportation bill, but with your help the message will really hit home! For continuous updates through June 30th, follow us on Twitter (http://twitter.com/#!/ascegovrel) and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Save-Americas-Infrastructure/213409032028360?sk=wall).
