Senate

In a major development on Thursday, February 12, 2004, the full Senate passed S. 1072, the six-year TEA 21 authorization bill. The vote was 76 to 21, indicating the ability of the Senate to override a potential veto. Early that morning the Senate approved a cloture vote by a wide margin of 86 to 11, setting the stage for a day’s worth of debate on the bill and then a surprise final vote. The final bill authorizes $318B over six years for highway, transit and safety programs, with $294B of that amount guaranteed for highway and transit programs.

Many of the amendments that were expected to be offered and potentially slow down debate were resolved behind the scenes with the committee leadership and staff. A large Manager’s Amendment was passed before the final vote which incorporated versions of many of the key amendments that were negotiated off the floor.

One key vote on a stand-alone amendment was an amendment offered by Senator Kyl (R-AZ) to cut the cost of the bill back to the Administration’s recommended level of $256B. The vote failed 78 to 20 and signaled that there was considerable support for the $318B funding level despite the Administration’s veto threat and opposition from fiscal conservatives.

The Senate bill will now be put on hold while waiting for the House to pass its version of the bill. Many of the more controversial policy and formula issues, including the size of the bill, will be sorted out in the House-Senate conference on the bill.

House

On February 11, 2004, the full House approved a four-month short term extension of the current TEA 21 law. The Senate has not yet acted on the extension and now likely will not until after its week-long President’s Day recess. The current extension expires on February 29. Some Senators have indicated they would prefer a shorter extension to keep the pressure on to finalize the bill. There is no word yet on timing for the House Tax and Infrastructure Committee or full House to act on Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (TEA-LU, HR 3550) or some scaled back version of it. The TEA-LU legislation has been pending since November 2003.

Administration

The Administration has issued a Statement of Policy (SAP) on the Senate SAFETEA bill, S. 1072. It includes serious concerns about a number of provisions in the bill and indicates that the President would veto the bill over the $318B funding level and the use of General Funds to pay for portions for the bill.

Referring to the Senate TEA 21 bill, White House spokesperson, Scott McClellan, was quoted on February 12 as saying, “This is the first real test for the Congress when it comes to spending restraint”. And at a Senate Finance Committee hearing on the 12th, Treasury Secretary John Snow said, “It is a litmus test of the ability of Congress and the Administration to effectively deal with the deficit”.