The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure unanimously approved the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2015 Thursday afternoon. The bipartisan bill approves $325 billion on transportation projects over the next six years, including $261 billion on highways, $55 billion on transit projects, and $9 billion on safety programs.
The current Highway Trust Fund is set to run out of funds and is facing a deadline of October 29 for renewing federal transportation funding. Congress will likely have to pass another short term “patch” to give lawmakers time to conference the highway bill, as the House and Senate bills differ on funding.
Republicans in the House have been facing pressure to pass a multiyear highway bill since they rejected the Senate’s bill this summer over concerns that it contained six years’ worth of transportation commitments but only three years’ worth of funding.
According to The Hill, the highway bill that was approved by the House Transportation Committee on Thursday would require lawmakers to pass new legislation to “unlock” additional funding after the initial three years, instead of guaranteeing it in advance.
The bills would maintain the federal government’s current spending level of about $50 billion per year for transportation projects. To reach that level of spending, however, Congress will have to come up with approximately $16 billion per year to supplement revenue from the federal gas tax. The House bill would require this funding gap to be filled before the final three years of commitments on the six year bill would be allocated.
Democrats in the House have pushed for an increase in federal infrastructure spending through an increase in the gas tax, among other mechanisms.
Many business groups and agriculture coalitions, of which the National Chicken Council is included are advocating that Positive Train Control (PTC) be included in the final Highway Bill package. The U.S. Rail Safety Act of 2008 requires that by December 15, 2015, certain automated safety provisions and improvements are implemented, including technology for train separation and collision avoidance. So as to not disrupt the marketplace, NCC and a broad coalition this week advocated for an extension to the deadline to implement these PTC technologies.
Chairman Shuster (PA) has stated that another possibility is the House may vote on a three year standalone PTC extension next week, according to a Bloomberg report.
