Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has proposed an "immediate" 18-month reauthorization of the federal highway program that also would infuse the faltering Highway Trust Fund with enough money to avoid a shortfall in August. LaHood said in a June 17 statement that he had briefed congressional lawmakers on the trust fund's problems and said that if money isn't added to the fund, "the trust fund will run out of money as soon as late August and states will be in danger of losing the vital transportation funding they need and expect." LaHood did not disclose details of his plan to fix
House and Senate floor votes are the next steps for a $105.9-billion war funding bill that includes $4.5 billion for defense and nonmilitary construction. Conferees from the two chambers on June 11 reached agreement on the package, which focuses mainly on aid to continue the military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. Among the measure’s construction allocations is $2.8 billion for Dept. of Defense projects; of that, $751 million is for DOD hospitals. The conference agreement also contains $922 million for State Dept. embassies, including $736 million for facilities in Islamabad. The Army Corps of Engineers would receive $797 million under
The issue of jurisdiction for siting transmission lines continues to simmer. A federal appeals court ruled in February that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission lacked authority to overrule state decisions denying applications for new lines. FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff told a House panel on June 12 he disagreed with the appellate court’s ruling but said he had not decided yet whether to appeal it to the Supreme Court.
Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) will ask the Government Accountability Office to do a study of the Dept. of Veterans Affairs multiyear construction program. “In some cases, VA’s infrastructure reflects yesterday’s priorities,” Akaka said. Since VA’s Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services program began in 2004, nine of its 58 identified projects have been finished, 20 are under construction, 12 are in design and 15 are in planning, Donald Orndorff, director of VA’s construction and facilities management office, told Akaka’s panel on June 10. As of June 5, VA had obligated only $27 million of its $1.1
Prospects have turned brighter for a major carbon-sequestration project. The Dept. of Energy announced on June 12 it had reached a “provisional agreement” with an industry group for the FutureGen project in Mattoon, Ill. DOE will provide $1.07 billion, including $1 billion from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The FutureGen Alliance, which includes utility and coal companies, will add $400 million to $600 million. DOE will issue a record of decision for the project by mid-July. After that, a preliminary design and new cost estimate will be produced. A decision on whether to proceed will come in early 2010.
Criticism of “Buy American” provisions within the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is intensifying in the U.S. and Canada. Canadian companies say they’re being hurt, and U.S. business interests worry Canada could impose retaliatory restrictions. The focus is ARRA’s estimated $280 billion, which states and localities administer, including billions of dollars for water and wastewater facilities and other infrastructure projects. Photo: Canadian Embassy/ Harry Skull Jr. Clinton, Cannon air the issue. The issue has reached Cabinet levels. At a joint press conference on June 13, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said, “People are worried about a rising tide of
House and Senate negotiators have agreed on a $106-billion supplemental spending bill for fiscal 2009 that most funds the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq but also contains about $4.4 billion for defense and non-military construction, much of it in the U.S. The conference agreement, approved June 11 by House and Senate appropriators, is expected to go to the House and Senate floors during the week of June 15. The measure's construction allocations include $2.7 billion for Dept. of Defense construction, including $263 million to finish hospital projects in Bethesda, Md., and Fort Belvoir in Virginia; $488 million for other military
Complaints about Buy-American provisions contained in the economic-stimulus measure are growing louder in the U.S. and Canada. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters say that the problem is focused on the estimated $280 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds that are being administered by states and localities, including aid for drinking water and wastewater treatment facilities and other infrastructure sectors. "It is really apparent to us that Buy-American requirements are having a major impact on projects administered by state and local government," says Myron Brilliant, the Chamber's senior vice president responsible for international
Senate appropriators are waiting for a Consumer Product Safety Commission report on tests of health effects of drywall imported from China. “We will meet that deadline,” says CPSC spokesman Scott Wolfson. Residents in 19 states say they believe health symptoms or metal corrosion are related to the wallboard. Appropriators directed CPSC to use its 2009 funds for the tests. The CPSC report is expected in early July.
Faced with some of the worst shortfalls on record, state budgets nationwide may not see full recovery until 2011, a new report says. The biannual “Fiscal Survey of States,” released on June 4, shows states’ total spending is expected to dip by 2.2% in fiscal 2009 and 2.5% in fiscal 2010. “These are some of the worst numbers we’ve ever seen,” says Scott Pattison, executive director of the National Association of State Budget Officers, which released the survey with the National Governors Association. Thirty states are expected to end fiscal 2009 with budget shortfalls, and another 35 could be in
