Fifth Extension Looms; House GOP Proposes $299-Billion, Six-Year Bill
Senate and House funding proposals are getting closer on a multi-year transportation funding bill, but there is no deal in sight. That will force lawmakers to extend the highway and transit programs before they leave July 23 for a six-week break. If they fail to pass an extension, much of the U.S. Dept. of Transportation will shut down on July 31.
At a July 22 meeting of conferees on the long-term successor to the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, House Republican negotiators floated a proposed funding level of $299 billion over six years in gross contract authority. Of that total, $283.9 billion would be guaranteed obligations. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.), who described the proposal, said that the figure has the support of Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.). But more importantly, "The President will support it and the President will sign it," Thomas said.