FarmWeekNow.com logo
Click here to play
 
Share This
 

Highway bill imminent or at a likely impasse?

The answer depends largely on whether you’re asking House or Senate leaders. We have video of Rep. Mica's speech.
Martin Ross 
Published: Feb 17, 2012
Meeting this week with participants in a Washington waterways symposium, U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) was hopeful about quick passage of a multimodal transportation/”energy” bill.

Mica’s committee has put forward a five-year, $260 billion highway bill aimed at rebuilding the nation’s highways and bridges and, for the first time, addressing selected U.S. waterway concerns that in the past have taken a back seat to surface transportation issues.

According to Mica, the proposal is free of so-called district spending “earmarks,” instead granting states greater flexibility in using infrastructure funds as they see fit.

Mica noted “we’ve found the money” to fund his bill, via proposed allocation of offshore oil drilling royalties. That plan, which presumes expanded domestic oil exploration, would help supplement the federal Highway Trust Fund, a repository for fuel taxes that has seen waning revenues amid increased vehicle fuel efficiency and reduced highway travel.

Meeting with Illinois Farm Bureau board members in Washington this week, Springfield Democrat U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin was not as confident about imminent passage of a highway bill. Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Ca.) and committee ranking Republican Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) are pushing a two-year package.

The House plan would eliminate any guarantee of a portion of gas tax revenues for mass transit; the Senate bill strongly supports transit funding. The House proposes fast-tracking the Canada-U.S. Keystone XL Pipeline and opening Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, despite President Obama’s decision to delay pipeline approval and Democrat opposition to ANWR development.

Durbin warned the House bill would cut 15-20 percent of the federal highway money Illinois now receives; a Durbin aide said the Senate plan assures “a top level of funding.” Because no specific project earmarks are included in the Mica plan, IFB National Legislative Director Adam Nielsen said “a lot’s riding on the (state’s) funding formula.”

IFB seeks several ag-related measures in highway legislation, including a continued ag exemption from commercial trucker “hours of service” requirements and a clarification of “interstate” vs. “intrastate” travel that according to IFB President Philip Nelson would free farmers delivering goods to in-state markets from requirements imposed on “coast-to-coast truckers.”
Durbin suggested the highway bill “might not be the right approach” to ensure ag protections, given political uncertainty about passage and the proliferation of proposed highway amendments “that have nothing to do with highways.”

While the House Rules Committee last week put a hold on Mica’s plan, he believes a political accommodation can be reached in House-Senate conference. “We will work with (Boxer),” he pledged. “. . .I think she’s just as committed as I am to get this done for the country.”


Permalink: Click here
Comments
Read comments from others and share your own thoughts.
Please provide the answer to the following question:

 = 
  
Search this site:   
Read More Stories
44 Senators urge Farm Bill action
Congress will have less than two months between the November elections and New Year's to deal with numerous expiring tax break and budget issues, many affecting ag. We have an audio report from RFD Radio's Matt Kaye.
Read this story
FMCSA decision resolves intrastate vs. interstate issue
Illinois Farm Bureau input into decision is viewed as critical.
Read this story
New hog facility more efficient, better for animals
The opening of a new 4,500-head, wean-to-finish hog facility thist week on the farm of Patrick and Julie Harms in Livingston County will provide more than just improved efficiencies for hog production.
Read this story
  
Illinois Wheat Tour sees early harvest ahead
CME Group rethinks expanded trading hours
Chicago Fed: Midwest farmland values continue to rise
USDA: It doesn't cost more to eat healthy
R.J. O'Brien urges trading halt during USDA grain reports
Oppose the Mandatory Overtime for Agricultural Labor and Minimum Wage
44 Senators urge Farm Bill action
Illinois Wheat Tour underway
Corn rootworm larval hatch earliest in 35 years
Top 50 Tags