Highways, Bridges and Roads

The House on Wednesday afternoon advanced a bill that would extend federal highway programs through September, and require the approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline within 30 days.

In an early afternoon vote, the House approved the rule for the Surface Transportation Extension Act, Part II, H.R. 4348. Members voted 246-177 in favor of the rule, which allowed members to start debate on the bill itself and pass it later on Tuesday.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Wednesday morning that Congress would not pass a multi-year highway bill before the election in November.

Speaking at a transportation event in Washington, LaHood said there will instead likely be more temporary extensions of current road and transit funding, like the 90-day continuing resolution that was approved by lawmakers last month.

"There will not be a bill before the election," LaHood said Wednesday. "I wish I could say we'll get a transportation bill (in the next six months), but I know we won't."

A $53.4 billion budget for the Transportation and Housing and Urban Development departments was approved on Tuesday by a Senate subcommittee.

The measure was approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee's subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies. It is less than the $74 billion President Obama requested for transportation in his 2013 budget proposal, and $44.8 billion less than he called for housing and urban development. 

It also decreases funding on the agencies from $57.3 billion in the current fiscal year.

But committee chairman Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said it was still a significant amount of funding for transportation.

“This legislation will create jobs and make critical investments in our nation’s roads, bridges, rail and transit systems, and airports," Murray said in a statement. "The bill also preserves an essential part of the country’s safety net by protecting housing assistance for low-income families and veterans.  

The Republican-led House Rules Committee cleared for a final vote in the lower chamber on Tuesday a bill that would tie an extension of federal highway funding to the controversial Keystone pipeline.

The approval came despite a veto threat from President Obama issued by the White House Tuesday afternoon.

A floor vote on the highway bill extension could come as early Wednesday, the committee said after the vote. 

The House is slated to vote Wednesday on the bill that keeps the transportation programs funded through September.

A Republican plan to link the next extension of federal highway funding to the controversial Keystone pipeline is scheduled to be considered Tuesday by a key House committee.

Days before an expiration date that would have brought federal transportation spending to a halt, lawmakers approved a temporary extension of the legislation funding for road and transit projects last month.

The measure (H.R. 4281), which is the ninth extension of the transportation funding that was scheduled to expire in 2009, provides transportation funding through June 30.

But on Tuesday the House Rules Committee is scheduled to consider a sequel, H.R. 4348, which includes language authorizing the controversial Keystone oil pipeline that was rejected earlier this year by President Obama.

The conservative Heritage Foundation's political arm is warning its members about negotiations between the House and Senate about a possible long-term highway bill now that Congress is back in town.

The House Rules Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing Tuesday on an extension similar to the recently approved 90 day-extension of the legislation that provides funding for road and transit projects that would take effect after the June 30 expiration date of the current continuing resolution.

GOP aides have said the measure (H.R. 4348), which includes language authorizing the controversial Keystone oil pipeline, is intended to be the legislative language House Republicans take into a potential conference with the Senate about the highway bill. 

But the conservative Heritage Foundation's political arm said Monday in an alert to its members that the extension was "a shell bill."

"Conservatives are typically leery of conference committees and in December, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) inadvertently revealed why," the Heritage Action for America said in an email quoting Mica saying last year that conference negotiations are "kabuki dances anyways."

A Senate committee will look this week at increasing toll rates on federal highways.

The Senate Commerce Committee's subcommittee on Surface Transportation will hold a hearing Wednesday titled "Protecting Commuters: Ensuring Accountability and Oversight in Tolling." The panel will question representatives of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, AAA Auto Club, the American Trucking Association and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.

The committee's chairman, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), has introduced legislation to allow the Department of Transportation to regulate toll increases.

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House Republican leadership will take another crack at forcing approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Wednesday pressed lawmakers to pass a long-term funding bill for transportation and not "limp forward" with more temporary extensions.

Speaking to the Economic Club of Chicago, Geithner said long-term investments in infrastructure are crucial to keeping the country competitive.

"To make us more competitive, we have to be willing to make larger long-term investments in infrastructure, not just limp forward with temporary extensions," he said, according to prepared remarks.