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Chamber to members: Tell Congress to make passing highway bill job No. 1
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is urging its members to write letters to Congress calling for lawmakers to pass new legislation for transportation funding.
The business group has said it does not agree with all provisions of either the House's $260 billion transportation bill, which would tie infrastructure spending to increased domestic oil drilling, or the Senate's $109 billion bill, which is shorter and relies on more traditional revenue sources for transportation such as the federal gas tax.
The Chamber has said it is imperative that Congress passes a transportation bill before the current authorization for road and transit projects expires on March 31 and provided its members Wednesday with sample letters they could write to their congressional representatives.
"As Congress embarks on a new legislative session, I urge you to Make Transportation Job #1 in 2012 and pass federal highway, transit and safety legislation that, at a minimum, maintains investment levels before the current law expires on March 31," the Chamber's sample letter to House and Senate members says.
The transportation bills appeared to have momentum, but some conservatives and liberals have criticized the House version, saying it spends too much and too little on transportation projects, respectively. Meanwhile the Senate's bill, which has been touted as bipartisan, has been stalled by unrelated amendments that have hampered the measure's ability to win 60 votes needed to move to final vote.
The Chamber's suggested letter to lawmakers says citizens should encourage lawmakers to find ways to end the logjams in both chambers.
"I understand that there challenges in finding the resources necessary to adequately fund such a measure," the letter says. "However, with the economic opportunities that a well-crafted measure could afford and emerging political consensus for advancing such an effort, I believe it is time for all involved parties to come together and craft a final product.
The Chamber promised earlier this week that it would campaign aggressively for the transportation bill over the weeklong Presidents Day recess.
“The idea is to get out, give people a good sense what the bill is and get them talking to their members of Congress and have them get the bill done,” Janet Kavinoky, the Chamber’s executive director of transportation and infrastructure, said. “We want Congress to feel like it needs to come back to Washington and get the bill done and put it to bed.”
