By Ron Thaniel
February 14, 2005

On January 9, the House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee leadership introduced a $283.9 billion six-year bipartisan bill to reauthorize the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, TEA-21.

H.R. 3, "The Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users" (TEA LU), was introduced by Representative Don Young (AK), Chairman, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Representative James L. Oberstar (MN), Ranking Democrat, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Representative Tom Petri (WI), Chairman, Highways, Transit and Pipelines Subcommittee, and Representative Peter DeFazio (OR), Ranking Democrat, Highways, Transit and Pipelines Subcommittee.

Introduction of H.R. 3 coincides with the release of the President's FY06 budget February 7, including a $35 billion increase for the reauthorization of TEA-21, bringing the Administration's reauthorization funding level to $284 billion over six-years.

As US Mayor goes to press, the Conference staff is reviewing the details of the proposal; initial review is that H.R. 3 is, as expected, similar to the legislation passed by the House last year, including $6 billion for the Conference priority "Projects of National and Regional Significance" to help state and local governments pay for high-cost transportation projects that have significant or regional benefits.

H.R. 3 does not include a dollar amount for contract authority through FY09 or a guaranteed minimum rate of return on the amounts states pay in gasoline taxes. Also of interest, H.R. 3 does include a provision allowing Congress to reconsider funding levels later if additional resources are available. This provision brought a veto threat from the Administration last year.

Following the introduction of H.R. 3, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chair James M. Inhofe (OK) said he was not satisfied with the funding levels in the Administration proposal and the House bill. The Conference expects the Senate reauthorization measure to be introduced shortly, as the Senate, House, and Administration have expressed a strong desire that the bill be passed this spring.

H.R. 3 reauthorizes the federal highway, public transportation, highway safety, and motor carrier safety programs for six years, from fiscal years 2004 through 2009. The policy features of the bill from the last Congress are retained. The legislation provides a total of $283.9 billion in guaranteed funding — a 42 percent increase over the guaranteed funding for TEA 21 (1998-2003).

The bill's guaranteed funding is $4.5 billion higher than the guaranteed funding level of $279.4 billion passed by the House of Representatives in April 2004, due to recent tax law changes made in last October's American Jobs Creation Act. The law restores ethanol-related losses to the Highway Trust Fund resulting from the 5.2 cents per gallon subsidy and revokes the diversion of 2.5 cents per gallon from the Highway Trust Fund to the General Fund. H.R. 3 grows highway obligation authority from $34.4 billion in 2004 to $41 billion in 2009; public transportation funding grows from $7.3 billion in 2004 to $10.3 billion in 2009.

The bill's funding level has been formally endorsed by the Administration. The legislation's guaranteed funding level of $283.9 billion reflects the same funding level that Congressional negotiations had centered on in the closing days of the 108th Congress.

Authorization for the federal transit, highway and safety programs expired September 30, 2003. Federal aid has been continued through short-term extensions. The current extension will expire May 31. Last year, the House measure called for a funding level of $275 billion over six years and the Senate bill called for $318 billion over six years. The House and Senate Conference Committee considered a $299 billion funding level but failed to reach an agreement.

The Bush Administration released its FY06 Department of Transportation budget, which recommends an increase of $966 million over FY05 for federal highways, with a funding level of $34.7 billion. The budget recommends $7.78 billion for the federal transit program, an increase of $134 million over the FY05 level.