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The House of Representatives today voted 217 to 212 to pass legislation, H.R. 2847—“The Jobs for Main Street Act”, that would supplement the core federal transportation programs with $37.2 billion in new transportation infrastructure investments and extend the authorization for the federal highway and transit programs through FY 2010. It is important to note all Republicans and 38 Democrats voted against the measure.
The measure would provide an additional $27.5 billion for highway improvements, $8.4 billion for public transportation, $500 million for airports, and $800 million for Amtrak to address the nation’s struggling employment situation. The highway and transit investment levels are identical to the amounts provided earlier this year in the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The proposal is also nearly identical to the recovery act’s transportation investments with respect to project eligibility, accountability, distributions between state and local governments, state maintenance of effort requirements, and the use of timelines. The major differences between the jobs proposal and the recovery act are:
- For the highway and transit programs, 50 percent of the jobs funds are required to be “under contract” in 90 days. The recovery act imposed a 120-day obligation deadline for the first half of highway funds and a 150-day obligation deadline for transit resources;
- The measure also includes a new requirement that highway and transit funds be distributed equitably between urban and rural areas;
- The measure sets aside $5 million in highway funds and $1.5 million in transit funds for the Office of Expedited Project Delivery. This office does not currently exist, but is proposed in the House multi-year surface transportation reauthorization proposal; and
- While the total public transportation investment is the same, more money is provided to rail modernization activities and less to the formula and new starts programs than under ARRA.
The remaining highway and transit details are consistent with ARTBA’s summary of the ARRA, located under “Current Issues” in the “Government Affairs” section of the ARTBA web site, www.artba.org. Similarly, the recovery act’s state-by-state funding distributions would be followed under the House-proposed jobs bill.
The bill’s proposal to extend the authorization for the surface transportation programs at current levels through FY 2010 also includes a number of significant modifications to current law. The measure would:
- Eliminate all state matching requirements for the core highway, transit and safety programs. As such, FY 2010 surface transportation programs would be 100 percent federal funds;
- Credit the Highway Trust Fund for foregone interest payments since 1998 (amounting to $14.7 billion for the Highway Account and $4.8 billion for the Transit Account);
- Allocate interest payments on future trust fund balances to the Highway Trust Fund;
- Shift the cost of state and local government fuel tax exemptions from the Highway Trust Fund to a general fund expense. This move, which ARTBA has long supported, would generate approximately $1 billion per year in new Highway Account revenues; and
- Modify existing Buy America procedures to ensure the Secretary of Transportation considers the impact on domestic manufacturing before granting a waiver for this requirement. The measure also carries a concept from the House reauthorization bill to apply Buy America requirements to a total bridge project that receives federal funds.
The Senate is not expected to take up this legislation until 2010. As such, the House today also
approved separate legislation that would extend the current authorization of the highway and transit programs from December 18 to February 28.
View print artilce here
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