Federal highway funding bill stalls

WASHINGTON — Unable to find agreement before highway and public transit programs expire Sept. 30, congressional leaders have endorsed a five-month extension, a key senator said Tuesday.

The Senate’s goal will be to pass a new highway plan in February, said Sen. Kit Bond, chairman of a transportation subcommittee overseeing the legislation. The bill covers programs giving states at least 80 percent of the money for roads and public transit in the United States.

"It’s going to be tough to hold to that schedule, but at least we have a schedule," said Bond, R-Mo. "There is a real concern that if we don’t get it done by February, the process could blow up. Election-year politics have already started."

The last highway bill was a $203 billion, six-year measure that constituted the biggest public works program in history when it became law in 1998. It, too, replaced highway programs that had expired but were extended while Congress worked out a new bill.

Debate in the GOP-led Senate has focused on environmental rules for approving projects as well as how to pay for the bill.

"While there are some financing and environmental issues that have not been resolved, I am confident that we can pass a strong bill that will benefit the entire nation," said Sen. James Jeffords, an independent from Vermont who leads Democrats on the Environment and Public Works Committee.

The committee expects to vote Thursday on continuing federal transportation programs for five more months.

Environmental groups have opposed GOP efforts to shift authority to states, or "streamline," saying it would weaken accountability for cleaning up the air. Bond and other supporters say they actually want the process to move faster and be more thorough.

Senate Democrats also disagree on financing; they say there isn’t enough money coming into the highway trust fund from gasoline tax receipts to pay for the $311 billion proposed by the Senate.

Money is even more contentious in the House, where House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Don Young, R-Alaska, has proposed raising the gas tax, among other things, to pay for a $375 billion highway bill.

The White House proposed spending $247 billion for road and transit programs.