Jobs bill provides highway help, goes to Obama

Jobs bill provides highway help, goes to Obama       The U.S. Senate on Wednesday provided relief for the underfunded Highway Trust Fund and extended funding authorization for surface transportation programs through the end of the year as part of a $17.6 billion jobs bill.
   The HIRE ACT, which includes tax cuts for those who hire unemployed, transfers $19.5 billion in interest foregone since 1998 from the general fund to the Highway Trust Fund. It also halts annual payments the Highway Trust Fund makes to the general fund as reimbursement for tax-exempt users of the highway program, such as state and local fleets and transit providers. The provision also repeals an $8.7 billion rescission of unobligated balances of contract authority that passed in the 2005. The act's Highway Trust Fund section is revenue neutral because it simply shifts money between government accounts.
   The Highway Trust Fund is the clearinghouse for revenue from fuel taxes and other user fees. The Department of Transportation follows formulas to distribute money to states for maintaining and upgrading highways in the federal system and for safety programs. The jobs bill represents the third time Congress has had to pump general taxpayer money into the fund because of declines in revenue due to the economic downturn and use of more fuel-efficient cars.
   The Senate originally passed the jobs bill on Feb. 24. The House modified the bill on March 4 and the Senate passed the final version by a vote of 68 to 29. The bill now goes to President Obama for his signature.
   Highway and transit programs were shut down for two days at the beginning of the month after a quick vote on a 30-day emergency extension was blocked by Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., over concerns that other aspects of the bill were not paid for with savings elsewhere in the budget. Bunning eventually relented and allowed the measure to go through. The DOT is operating under its fourth short-term extension because Congress has not passed a new surface transportation act since the previous multiyear spending plan expired in September.
      Meanwhile, the House Wednesday approved by voice vote a measure that would restore two days of pay to almost 2,000 DOT workers who were furloughed when highway program funds were temporarily shut off. The measure is part of a bill to extend unemployment benefits, flood insurance and other programs that are due to expire. The House last week passed a separate bill authorizing the secretary of transportation to compensate the furloughed employees, but it has stalled in the Senate because a senator has used parliamentary prerogative to block a vote over a desire to find offsetting cuts to cover the payments. House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman James Oberstar noted in a statement from the floor of the House that the money will come from previously authorized administrative funding and will not increase costs for the government.
   The House also voted to correct two provisions of the HIRE Act that altered how highway funding formulas were calculated to benefit a handful of states and funnel additional highway funds that previously were set aside as earmarks through only six of 13 state highway formula programs. Oberstar had objected to the provisions in the Senate bill, but agreed to support it in return for a pledge from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to consider the modifications later. ' Eric Kulisch