TEA-21 renewal piddles its way through Congress

Here is an update on the status of the TEA-21 renewal package that is currently in Conference Committee with members of the U.S. House and Senate. TEA-21 is the federal transportation bill that sets transportation policy for the federal government (and thus, to a great extent for state and local governments, too) for the next five years or so. Much of the disagreement is about the overall funding level, with the Senate wanting the most, the House wanting almost as much, and President Bush wanting the least. Senators and Representatives are selling it as a "jobs bill" while the President is using it as an opportunity to show fiscal restraint and discipline.

The numerous bicycle and pedestrian provisions of the bill, including Safe Routes to School, are all held up while this larger issues are hammered out.

Update via TRANSACT.org:

Yesterday, the House and Senate approved legislation extending the TEA-21 law for a fourth time, sending the legislation (H.R. 4635) to the President for his signature. H.R. 4635 simply extends the June 30 expiration deadline through the end of July. The announced purpose of the one-month extension is to give conferees who are working to reconcile the House (H.R. 3550) and Senate (S. 1072) bills added time to reach an agreement.

However, even under the most optimistic scenario, most observers don t see any chance that the House and Senate conferees will reach an agreement by next month, given the amount of work to done between now and July 23 when Congress is scheduled to recess for the party conventions and the continuing divisions between the Bush Administration and Congress over funding for the six-year bill.

The conferees met yesterday to give their approval to 42 staff recommendations that dealt with mostly non-controversial issues. This action and approval of 12 items at the first conference committee meeting on June 9 have yet to address any of the STPP coalition s concerns. Most of the policy issues that the STPP coalition follows are connected to funding levels directly or linked to broader agreements on the bill.

The dispute over funding is slowing the conference committee process. Earlier this week, DOT Secretary Mineta conveyed the Administration s views on the pending renewal bills, insisting upon the $256 billion funding request. The Senate conferees remain committed to the Senate s $318 billion package, with most House conferees supporting more than the $283 billion passed by the House.