Obama, mayors seek transportation funds extension

Obama, mayors seek transportation funds extension

Obama

   President Obama last week reiterated his call for Congress to pass an extension of the surface transportation bill without changes so that spending authority doesn't expire and damage the economy.
   Funding for highways, transit and safety programs is scheduled to run out at the end of September unless Congress acts on a temporary measure. There have been seven stopgap pieces of legislation maintaining the funding status quo since the multiyear surface transportation reauthorization bill expired two years ago.
   'Allowing this bill to expire would be a disaster for our infrastructure and our economy,' Obama said in his weekly radio and online address to the nation on Saturday. 'Right away, over 4,000 workers would be furloughed without pay. If it's delayed for just 10 days, we will lose nearly $1 billion in highway funding that we can never get back. And if we wait even longer, almost 1 million workers could be in danger of losing their jobs over the next year.'
   Congress has been unable to put together a long-term bill because of differences over size of any bill, the role of the federal government in transportation, and how to pay for the system going forward at a time when revenues are diminishing, costs are increasing and there is little appetite to raise fuel taxes.

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   House Republicans, in particular, believe many transportation programs aren't focused on national priorities and that their main objective is to substitute for an economic stimulus.
   In addition to the looming expiration of spending authority is an even more serious deadline to renew the government's ability to collect gas and diesel tax receipts and put them in the Highway Trust Fund. State transportation officials have sounded the alarm, noting there is not many legislative days left this month to put together a bill. They also called for annual funding of transportation programs at the current level of $42 billion for highways and $11 billion for transit.
   Federal and state officials say that without renewed authority, Department of Transportation programs will shut down and states will halt construction projects and solicitations for future work because of uncertainty they will get reimbursed with federal aid.
   President Obama blamed 'political gamesmanship' for the stalemate, adding, 'there's no reason to put more jobs at risk in an industry that has been one of the hardest hit in this recession. There's no reason to cut off funding for transportation projects at a time when so many of our roads are congested, so many of our bridges are in need of repair, and so many businesses are feeling the cost of delays.'

Boxer

   Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., in her capacity as chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, has proposed a four-month surface transportation extension to allow Congress more time to develop a comprehensive bill, but it is not clear yet how long of an extension lawmakers would agree to.
   On Aug. 31, business and labor leaders joined Obama in the Rose Garden to support passage of a clean extension.
   And 128 mayors signed a letter to congressional leaders urging quick extensions of the surface transportation law and user fees to prevent a suspension of services similar to what happened when the Federal Aviation Administration's spending authority ran out on July 23 for two weeks before a stopgap measure was approved.
   'Key decisions about the scale of future funding commitments and the substance of specific policy reforms should be addressed in the successor legislation to SAFETEA-LU, not in an extension bill or as part of a continuing appropriation,' the local leaders said.
   'Like many Americans, I am concerned about the federal deficit, but the fastest route to economic disaster is to allow our roads, highways, bridges and other essential infrastructure to crumble,' Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett, said in a statement.
   Obama is expected to make infrastructure investment a component of his action plan to create jobs that he plans to reveal Thursday before a joint session of Congress. In his South Lawn address, the president said he has directed some federal agencies to identify high-priority infrastructure projects already in the pipeline that can be started sooner by accelerating permitting decisions and reviews. That will put more people to work without detracting from safety, environmental or health requirements, he said.
   He also repeated his intent to 'reform the way transportation money is invested, to eliminate waste, to give states more control over the projects that are right for them, and to make sure that we're getting better results for the money that we spend.
   'We need to stop funding projects based on whose district they're in, and start funding them based on how much good they're going to be doing for the American people. No more bridges to nowhere. No more projects that are simply funded because of somebody pulling strings. And we need to do this all in a way that gets the private sector more involved. That's how we're going to put construction workers back to work right now doing the work that America needs done — not just to boost our economy this year, but for the next 20 years.'
   Business groups and many Republican lawmakers have argued for years that environmental reviews and permitting for infrastructure projects needs to be streamlined to keep costs down and deliver transportation benefits to the public more quickly. Projects can easily take a dozen years from planning to completion under the current system, experts complain.
   'And so when Congress is back next week, in addition to passing these clean extensions to prevent any halt on existing work, we're going to have to have a serious conversation in this country about making real, lasting investments in our infrastructure — from better ports to a smarter electric grid; from high-speed Internet to high-speed rail. And at a time when interest rates are low and workers are unemployed, the best time to make those investments is right now — not once another levee fails or another bridge falls. Right now is when we need to be making these decisions,' Obama said.
   Meanwhile, Congress needs to move on a new FAA bill by Sept. 16 when funding of non-essential activities runs out again. ' Eric Kulisch