Congress prepares temporary transportation funding measure

Congress prepares temporary transportation funding measure    The U.S. House of Representatives passed a continuing resolution Wednesday to extend federal funding of highway and transit programs an extra five months at 2004 budget levels in the absence of new legislation to replace a multiyear funding bill due to expire Sept. 30.
   The Senate is expected to quickly pass the bill and send it to the president to avoid disrupting programs authorized under the six-year surface transportation spending blueprint known as the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century.
   The stopgap measure is intended to give Congress time to develop another long-term authorization plan highway and rail transportation projects. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee plans to send forward a six-year, $375 billion funding bill before the end of the year.
   Earlier this month Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta urged Congress to reauthorize TEA-21 without delay to avoid economic harm. Construction slowdowns could add more than $2 billion to the cost of transportations projects, further compounding state budget problems, and lead to thousands of layoffs in the construction industry.
   The main reason for the delay, according to the Commercial Vehicle Safety Association, is a split in Congress on ways to maintain adequate revenue streams for the Highway Trust Fund, such as an increase in gasoline and diesel fuel taxes.
   The continuing resolution provides more than $14 billion in contract authority to states to continue the federal highway program. It also provides $142 million for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to make grants to states to enforce commercial safety regulations and continue truck and bus inspections along the Mexican border.