30 Day Highway Extension Approved

By a vote of 78-19 the Senate last night approved legislation to extend several Federal programs until March 31, 2010, including Highway Trust Fund spending authority that expired on February 28, 2010. The House previously approved the bill and President Obama has signed it. The bill has been on hold due to objections from Senator Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) over budgetary considerations not related to the highway program. The stalemate caused the furlough of Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) employees and prevented reimbursements to state DOTs for ongoing Federal-aid highway contracts. Some states postponed bid lettings because of the uncertainty over the funding and several direct FHWA projects were shut down. Furloughed workers have been told to report back to work today. Still pending is H.R. 2847, the so-called jobs legislation, which would provide an extension of highway program authorization until December 31, 2010, provide additional revenue to the HTF to keep it solvent through the first quarter of 2011, and remedy an $8.7 billion rescission of highway spending authority included in the SAFETEA-LU law. Other construction friendly provisions in the bill include an extension of Build America Bonds and accelerated equipment expensing.  The "jobs" bill was passed by the Senate last week but concerns by different factions in the House kept the bill from being approved, making the 30 day extension necessary. One issue raised by House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.), related to the distribution of highway funds for the Projects of National Significance Program and Corridors Program, has been resolved. The House may consider the "jobs" bill as early as today.