The new debt limiting Budget Control Act (BCA) that Congress passed this summer, along with the more austere allocations allotted by the Appropriations Committee's last continuing resolution, will likely limit Barbara Boxer's (D., CA) attempts to pass her two-year surface transportation bill fully funded. Her highway trust fund extension, which would provide just a short four-month extension of the current bill, is also in jeopardy.

Boxer's Environment and Public Works Committee initially proposed $43 billion to match last year's appropriations, but the BCA now imposes new challenges. The act limits available monies to a funding ceiling created this summer from March to July, where more than $3.1 billion was stripped from the budget. As such, Boxer is looking at only $39.9 billion per year for the highway bill.

Despite this setback, the future for surface transportation is yet more uncertain. Although the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee may still look for solutions to regain those lost funds either for the short-term extension or the two-year surface transportation bill, even if Boxer manages to secure them, the House of Representatives has proposed a surface transportation bill that comes in at a much lower level with only a $28 billion budget. Congress will tackle this issue when members reconvene later this month.