Capital Partnerships
  A Nationally-Recognized Resource in Infrastructure Financing May 26, 2011  
 

Inside Transportation

 

From Capital Partnerships LLC

 

ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE SEEKS $339.2 BILLION FOR TRANSPORTATION REAUTHORIZATION BILL

  

On behalf of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW), Chair Barbara Boxer (D., CA) announced that the committee hopes to maintain current funding (plus inflation) at $339.2 billion over a six-year transportation reauthorization bill. This bill falls short of the Obama administration's budget goal of raising $556 billion, yet Boxer warns that EPW may still have to compromise on its vision. In a press conference on May 25, 2011, she notes that, "We're starting with a six-year and we're hoping for a six-year, but we recognize that the funding challenges may be so that we decide to go with a two-year."

Members of the committee agreed that the legislation should do the following (excerpted from the press release):

  • Fund programs at current levels to maintain and modernize our critical transportation infrastructure;
  • Eliminate earmarks;
  • Consolidate numerous programs to focus resources on key national goals and reduce duplicative and wasteful programs;
  • Consolidate numerous programs into a more focused freight program that will improve the movement of goods;
  • Create a new section called America Fast Forward, which strengthens the TIFIA program to stretch federal dollars further than they have been stretched before; and
  • Expedite project delivery without sacrificing the environment or the rights of people to be heard.

The expansion of the Transportation Infrastructure Financing and Innovation Act (TIFIA) that provides loans and credit for transportation and infrastructure projects will be a welcome addition for House Chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee John Mica (R., FL) who also supports the program. However, the question of revenue generation remains. The General Fund has bailed out the fund in recent years and the Republican controlled House of Representatives does not want to see further transfers from the General Fund. As such, Mica aims to get his transportation bill out for consideration at the same time the EWP's bill is drafted. The committee plans to get a draft of the bill titled "Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century" (MAP-21) completed in the coming weeks and then debated and revised before the July 4th recess.

     
 
 

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