Transport Funding Cutoff Averted at Deadline, But Only for Two Months
Things came uncomfortably close to a transportation funding crisis, but Congress approved and President Bush has signed into law a two-month extension for the federal highway and transit programs. Bush signed the bill on Feb. 29, thus allowing transportation funds to continue flowing, but only through April 30.
The action by Congress and the President averted a virtual shutdown of the Federal Highway and Federal Transit Administrations at midnight Feb. 29, when the current authorization--itself an extension of the expired Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century--was to lapse. Without the funding extension, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta warned he would have had to furlough about 5,000 workers at his department.