House, Senate Panels Seek to Reintroduce Transport Bills Early in 2005
House and Senate committees plan to get started early in 2005 on reviving the becalmed multi-year transportation bill, a key lawmaker and congressional staffers say. Soon after the 109th Congress convenes in January, legislators want to introduce bills that are similar to the versions that passed the House and Senate this year, committee aides told an American Road and Transportation Builders Association conference on Dec.9.
House and Senate negotiations on a successor to the expired Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century broke down several months ago when lawmakers couldn't agree on the new bill's price tag. Instead, Congress passed an eight-month extension to keep federal highway and transit programs operating through May 2005. That's the sixth extension since TEA-21 lapsed Sept. 30, 2003.