The revived effort in Congress on a new transportation bill has moved a step forward, with House approval of legislation to provide $284 billion for federal road and transit programs through 2009. But the bill, which the House passed March 10 on a lopsided 417-9 vote, faces the threat of a presidential veto over a provision that seeks, in effect, to reopen the bill in 2006 to add more funds.
The legislative focus now moves to the Senate, where the Environment and Public Works Committee plans to vote on its version of the highway part of its bill on March 16, says Will Hart, a spokesman for that panel. Hart says there is "agreement among the Big Four" on the committee--Chairman James Inhofe (R-Okla), James Jeffords (I-Vt.), Christopher Bond (R-Mo.) and Max Baucus (D-Mont.)--to introduce a highway title in line with the House's overall $284-billion number. In the Senate, three different committees have jurisdiction over the respective highway, transit and safety programs. The panels typically approve those individual authorizations and they are stitched together for floor action.