An update on the US surface transportation bill
20 June 2012 0 comments
The House and Senate staff have been making offers and counteroffers on several policy provisions recently, but at this point, completing a comprehensive bill by 30 June - when the 9th extension expires - is logistically almost impossible. So, the real question is how long the next extension will be - a few weeks in order to wrap up conference deliberations on a multi-year bill, or longer, possibly as long as six months, as House Speaker John Boehner has suggested.
Senators Boxer (D-CA), Inhofe (R-OK) and Reid (D-NV) appear to be sticking together in support of passing a multi-year bill – particularly since what may pass is likely to look very much like the original Senate-passed bill, and therefore, they will probably support the shortest extension possible. In the House, Speaker Boehner mentioned a six-month extension, but after taking heat from the industry, he said a six-month extension was only one option.
The industry groups remain optimistic, at least publically, and continue their DC and grassroots efforts to push for a long-term bill. The Transportation Constructors Coalition (TCC) is running radio ads in some key Republican conferees’ districts urging them to pass a bill immediately. There are still no offers from conferees on the controversial non-transportation issues, such as Keystone and coal ash.
Both the House and Senate are back in session this week and next week before the week-long 4 July recess. Congressional leaders will need to decide on the length and details of the 10th short-term extension in the next few days. At this point it is expected that the bill will be a “clean” extension of current law, meaning it will not include any extraneous policy provisions.
What do you think?
Comments are moderated, and will not appear until the post's author has approved them.
Facebook
Twitter
StumbleUpon 
Digg 
Delicious
