Highway Funding

The House Rules Committee has posted the official version of the combined highway/transit bill package known as the American Energy and Infrastructure Act, which retains the T&I bill number H.R. 7.  The complete text of the House combined bill is available at: www.rules.house.gov/Legislation/legislationDetails.aspx?NewsID=733

This legislation includes new language which derives most of the $40 billion one-time appropriation for transit from changes to federal employee pension plans and includes  language to implement the Keystone XL pipeline, as well as the three oil and gas development measures reported out by the Natural Resources Committee last week.

Floor amendments are due to the House Rules Committee by 11 AM on Monday, FEB 13.  Among the many amendments in the works are several that would change highway funding formulas (the House bill cuts funding for West Virginia, home state to T&I Ranking Member Nick Rahall).  There will be at least one amendment altering the Bonus Equity formula.

Rahall plans a bipartisan amendment increasing Buy America requirements.

Democrats are planning an amendment that restores HTF financing of transit, probably by redirecting  the general revenue appropriation  to the HTF rather than targeting it to the new Alternative Transportation Account.  The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is very concerned about the one-time appropriation financing of transit in the pending bill.  It is possible this could generate some Republican support for an amendment that restores HTF funding for transit.

Such an amendment would allow transit to benefit from the revenues generated by the oil and gas development provisions that are currently reserved only for the HTF.  If enacted, it will take several years before these provisions generate much funding for the HTF.  Most experts don’t expect these new revenues to be of much consequence over the 5-year lifetime of the House bill.

Congressional Budget Office has scored the House Natural Resources Committee oil/gas development bills as generating $4.3 billion over 10 years, and the Senate Finance Committee revenue title for that chamber’s 2-year reauthorization at $7.4 billion.

The Senate is expected to pass the pending cloture motion this afternoon allowing Senate floor consideration of that chamber’s 2-year bill.  A number of amendments from both Democrats and Republicans are anticipated.  Many of these will attempt to alter the revenue offset language in the finance title.

While there is more talk in both chambers about indexing the gas tax for inflation as a way to pay for this reauthorization bill, there does not appear to be sufficient support to pass such an amendment – at least not yet.