Congress Extends TEA-21 Short Term
The United States Congress has passed a five-month extension of TEA-21, through Feb. 29, at prorated 2004 congressional budget resolution funding levels. TEA-21 expires Sept. 30. See Download file
The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) reports that:
While Congress passed a five-month extension of TEA 21 September 26, to provide time to pass a long-term reauthorization bill, there is still no agreement on how to pay for the increased investment proposed by authorizing committees in both the House and Senate. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is continuing to work on a $375 billion six-year transit and highway bill. Senate authorizers continue to craft a six-year transit and highway bill that would follow the Senate-passed Budget Resolution levels of $311.5 billion. The Administration has proposed a six-year, $247 billion bill. Among the proposals being considered to pay for increased investment are indexing or increasing the current motor fuels taxes, and creation of a transportation finance corporation that would issue bonds that carry either tax credits or interest.
APTA also reports that:
The Senate is not expected to consider the FY 2004 Transportation Appropriations bill before the end of the fiscal year on September 30. The delay in moving the bill on the Senate Floor is unrelated to transportation issues, and instead centers on provisions in the Treasury title of the measure relating to restrictions on travel to Cuba and the contracting out of federal work.
In the meantime, the House and Senate have passed a continuing resolution effective until October 31, 2003, which the President has indicated he will sign. FTA is not expected to publish the five-twelfths apportionments under the short-term extension legislation until a longer-term FY 2004 appropriation is enacted.
Please visit “APTA”:http://www.apta.com on the web and their Reauthorization Command Center.