House T&I Committee Passes Highway/Transit Extension

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee this week reported out a bill to extend highway and transit program authorization through September 30, 2011, the end of the fiscal year. The legislation would continue funding at the 2010 level of $42 billion for highways and $10.3 billion for transit. These programs have been operating under a series of short term extensions since SAFETEA-LU expired on March 4. T&I Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) would like the bill to be taken up separate from other legislation before the end of the week so that the Senate will have time to complete action before the deadline is reached. Failure to pass the extension before March 4 would result in a shut down of federal reimbursements to states for ongoing highway and transit projects. AGC is urging Congress to extend the program through the end of the fiscal year, rather than through a shorter extension, to provide some degree of funding certainty for state DOTs and to allow Congress time to complete action on a multi-year reauthorization measure. For more information, contact Brian Deery at (703) 837-5319 or deeryb@agc.org.