INTERNATIONAL | WASHINGTON | CUSTOMS | SECURITY | REGULATION
By R.G. Edmonson
THE HOUSE AND Senate appear to be on a collision course over transportation unless they can bridge a chasm of fundamental differences in approach.
House transportation leaders want change now, and are determined to have a six-year “transformational” bill in place by Sept. 30. The Senate, with the White House in tow, wants to put transformation on hold for 18 months, and concentrate instead on putting the Highway Trust Fund back in the black.
Neither body appears ready to alter course, leaving commuters, truckers, shippers, contractors and state transportation officials watching from the sidelines as the two houses charge toward the abyss.
But anyone expecting to see a wreck may be surprised.
Rep. James L. Oberstar, D-Minn., chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, is the prime mover for the Surface Transportation Authorization Act of 2009. He said he could meet the Senate in the middle with his bill in hand.
“The Senate has acted. They’ve got a bill . . . It’s the wrong bill, but they’ve got a bill out there,” Oberstar said. “The idea of House-Senate conferences is that we reconcile differences. The point is that there is no need for extension of current law.”
It’s not clear if Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, is ready for a conference, but the bill her committee passed on July 15 was a “clean bill,” with none of the program changes in Oberstar’s bill. Amendments may be added on the Senate floor, she said.
A day later, Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., ramped up the pressure, telling Roy Kienitz, Department of Transportation
undersecretary for policy at a hearing if he didn’t want 18 more months of the same old policies, his only choice would be the House bill.
Oberstar and Boxer recognize the most immediate need is keeping the Highway Trust Fund from going bust. The DOT said the fund would be in negative numbers within the month. Boxer said the 18-month extension should come with $20 billion to sustain the trust fund
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