US House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure US Rep. Don Young, Chairman
Six-Month & Five-Month Extensions for Funding of Federal Highway, Transit & Safety Programs Introduced in US House;
Funding Would Continue at 2004 Budget Resolution Levels
Washington, D.C. - With funding for federal highway, transit and safety programs scheduled to expire on September 30th, the bipartisan leadership of the US House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee today introduced legislation to extend funding under the existing levels for an additional six months.
Transportation Committee Chairman Don Young (R-Alaska) also introduced legislation (H.R. 3087) which would extend funding for a five-month period.
The six-month "Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2003" (H.R. 3088) was cosponsored by 74 Members of the Transportation Committee, and was introduced by:
- Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), Chairman, Transportation & Infrastructure Committee
- Rep. James Oberstar (D-MN), Ranking Democrat, Transportation Committee
- Rep. Tom Petri (R-WI), Chairman, Highways, Transit & Pipelines Subcommittee
- Rep. William Lipinski (D-IL), Ranking Democrat, Highways Subcommittee
"An extension will give our Committee and the Senate Committees the needed time to complete our versions of this vital legislation," said Transportation Committee Chairman Young.
"We have made tremendous progress on our bipartisan bill and will complete work on our historic $375 billion, six year legislation, before the end of the year. We fully intend to introduce a $375 billion bill that addresses the national congestion and highway safety crisis identified by the US Department of Transportation.
"Traffic congestion in all 50 states is costing drivers and our nation more than $67 billion each year in time and gas wasted sitting in gridlock.
"But an issue of even greater concern is our national highway safety crisis. We are losing more than 42,000 people each in highway fatalities. One-third of these deaths are directly attributable to substandard road conditions and roadside hazards.
"Our $375 billion proposal will provide the necessary funding to begin to address these national problems," said Young.
"Our federal highway program will essentially come to a halt in a couple weeks if we do not act," said Highways, Transit and Pipelines Subcommittee Chairman Petri. "This is a simple but necessary stopgap measure as we finalize the long-term reauthorization bill. There are still issues that must be resolved before we can enact a transportation bill that invests the resources necessary to not only maintain, but actually improve, our nation's infrastructure."
Summary Of Extensions
Both of the bills extend current law. The only difference is the length of the extensions. They provide continued funding for Federal highway, transit, and highway safety programs using current law program structures and tie funding levels to the FY 2004 Budget Resolution. They keep in place all policies authorized in the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA 21). These programs continue to be protected by a budgetary firewall, which means that highway user fee revenues cannot be used for any other purpose and must be appropriated at the levels directed in the authorization for fiscal year 2004. Most importantly, the provision in the Internal Revenue Code that prohibits the expenditure of funds from the Highway Trust Fund after October 1, 2003 is amended to allow the Department of Transportation to disburse funds into next summer. This will keep the programs operating until Congress has time to act on a multi-year surface transportation reauthorization bill next spring.
Highways
- The bills provide five/six months of contract authority and five/six months of obligation limitation for the Federal Highway program.
- There are no policy changes in the bill and the programs will continue to operate as they have in the past.
- States will be given maximum flexibility to move dollars between programs during the five/six-month period of the bills. The bills contain a reconciliation and restoration mechanism by which the activities during the five/six months of maximum flexibility in this bill will be reconciled in subsequent legislation for each program in each state so that at the end of Fiscal Year 04, the full FY 04 amount for each state in each program will have been distributed.
Transit
- The bills extend all currently authorized Federal transit programs for five/six months, from October 1, 2003 to March 31, 2004.
- 80 percent of this total funding level is provided as contract authority from the Mass Transit Account of the Highway Trust Fund. 20 percent is to be appropriated from the General Fund.
- As was the case under TEA 21, both the trust fund and general fund portions of the transit program are guaranteed by a budgetary firewall.
- TEA 21 New Starts project authorizations are also extended for five/six months.
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
- The bills authorize funding for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. This funding will be used for administrative expenses, safety inspections at the border with Mexico, grants for States to participate in the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program, grants to States to improve their commercial drivers' licensing programs, and for completing the long-term crash causation study required by the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
- The bills extend all NHTSA programs that were authorized in FY 2003, including: the Seat Belt Safety Incentive Grants, Prevention of Intoxicated Driver Incentive Grants, State Highway Safety Program grants (the 402 program), Highway Safety Research and Development, Occupant Protection Incentive Grants, Alcohol-Impaired Driving Counter-measures Incentive Grants, and the National Driver Register.
What Happens To The Highway & Transit Programs After September 30, 2003 If An Extension Is Not Passed?
After TEA-21 authorizations expire on September 30, 2003, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) will not be able to continue program delivery.
EFFECTS OF SHUTDOWN
- Expenditures from the Highway Trust Fund are prohibited beyond September 30, 2003. No grants or payments will be processed, even if the funds were already appropriated and remain unobligated.
- The FHWA, FMCSA, NHTSA, and FTA will not be able to continue operating. The agencies will, essentially, shut down and the employees will be furloughed.
- The Highway Trust Fund is prohibited from receiving new revenue -- gas tax receipts will go to the General Fund.
- Construction and other contractors and their suppliers will suffer economic losses, with the potential for smaller operators to suffer substantial economic hardship.
- Some States depend on Federal-aid funds to pay bond debt service and may go into default if payments due in January cannot be made.
- Vendors and States may sue the agency for failure to make payments on existing obligations.
- The Highway Account of the HTF will be charged interest under the Cash Management Improvement Act for delayed payments.
- Some projects will incur cost increases due to delays.
- Jobs will be lost.
MINIMUM LEGISLATIVE ACTION REQUIRED BEFORE OCT. 1, 2003
- Title 26 must be amended, or a Revenue Bill enacted, to allow expenditures from the Highway Trust Fund for liquidation of new obligations by States and by FHWA incurred after September 30, 2003. This legislation must be passed no later than September 30, 2003.
- New amounts of sufficient contract authority or other budget authority must be provided for DOT agencies to pay administrative expenses and provide some new funding for FY 2004 -- T&I 5/6-month Surface Transportation Extension Act (STEA).
- An Appropriations Act or a Continuing Resolution is required to make sufficient liquidating cash available from the Highway Trust Fund, so State DOTs can obligate new or existing contract authority.
What is Congress Doing to Prevent the Shutdown of the Highway and Transit Programs?
The Transportation & Infrastructure Committee has Introduced Two Short-term Extensions:
- The bills extend current law highway, transit, and highway safety programs from October 1, 2003 through either February 29 or March 31 of 2004.
- The model for the extension bill is the 1997 Surface Transportation Extension Act, the short-term extension that was passed to bridge the gap between the Intermodal Surface Transportation Act of 1991 (ISTEA) and the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA 21).
- The Ways and Means Committee has worked with T&I to provide an extension of the revenue provisions that expire on September 30th, so funds can continue to be spent from the Highway Trust Fund for the period of the extension.
- The Budget Committee has worked with T&I to protect the fiscal year 2004 funds with a budgetary firewall, consistent with TEA 21.
- States are given flexibility in how they obligate their funds among the core highway programs. However, there is a provision that reconciles their program apportionments against total year spending in each category.
There is a "dimmer switch" provision that allows State Dots to be reimbursed for previously committed federal funds through June 1, 2004 (5-month extension) or July 1, 2004 (6-month extension). This will allow States to continue current construction programs without fearing a hard cut-off of funds as the 2004 construction season begins.