New transportation bill clears funding bottleneck for three months

Congress approved a short-term, $8 billion transportation bill last week, only one day before funding would have stopped flowing for current projects. Fearing the uncertainty, five southern and mountain states had already cancelled or delayed $1.5 billion in infrastructure projects that hinge on federal aid.

The bill’s 11th-hour passage means construction on major infrastructure funded through the depleted federal Highway Trust Fund will continue. But the short-term bill only patches things up for three months, making it the 34th stop-gap authorization to extend funding since 2009.

Though the Senate also approved an additional long-term bill to provide a six-year transportation funding budget, the House recessed without considering the legislation, which must be passed by October.

Despite earning criticism for a tyranny-of-the-urgent style of dealing with the nation’s vital transportation needs, congressional opinion wasn’t all gloomy.

“Many thought we’d never get here, but we have,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

McConnell wanted the House to delay its summer recess due to the desperate need to process the Senate’s long-term bill (which passed 91-4), but lawmakers transported themselves home instead.

Besides infusing money into the nearly empty Highway Trust Fund, the short-term transportation extension bill also covers a $3.4 billion gap in the Department of Veterans Affairs’ budget. VA hospitals and clinics across the nation would have withered without renewed the authorization.

But as it now reads, the Senate’s long-term bill likely will cause major contention in the House over its provision for re-establishing the Export-Import Bank—something advocated by President Barack Obama. The controversial bank, whose charter expired in June, gives aid in the form of loans to U.S. companies doing business overseas. Echoing the voice of a pre-presidential Obama, many conservative lawmakers dismiss the bank as a form of “corporate welfare” since its loans enable companies to make purchases or commit to projects or sales they might not normally undertake in high-risk economic or political environments overseas.

There are other bones of contention in the Senate’s long-term bill: The most obvious is the paltry $350 billion it authorizes for transportation, which industry officials claim is only enough to fund three of the bill’s six years.

Then there is the requirement for rental car agencies to fix any cars subject to safety recalls before renting them, despite car dealers not being subjected to the same terms. Plus, auto companies who conceal defects relating to vehicle safety would incur fines double the present amount of $35 million.

The bill would shore up the ailing Amtrak budget for an average of $1.65 billion per year for four years, plus another $570 million for improvements to the congested Boston to Washington rail corridor.

But business leaders will cheer the bill’s language advocating speedier processing of construction projects under environmental review, and state user fees for electric vehicles—since they use roadways but do not generate federal gas tax revenues.

Come October, industry officials say they could handle an imperfect bill. They just want a longer period of certainty, since states simply want a clear picture of what the federal government plans to fund.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.