Congress passes bill to keep transit work going for now

— Congress pushed through a 90-day stopgap measure Thursday to extend current highway funding, averting a halt in road and infrastructure projects because of the inability of lawmakers to agree on a broader transportation measure.

The quick Senate approval by voice vote Thursday afternoon came after a House vote and meant that work could continue on scores of highway, transit and bridge projects paid for out of the highway trust fund. The measure would be the ninth extension since a $286 billion, multiyear plan ended in 2009; had Congress taken no action, the current extension would have expired over the weekend.

The extension passed the House 266-158, with 10 Republicans voting against the measure and 37 Democrats voting for it.

Among Arkansas’ House delegation, Republicans Rick Crawford, Tim Griffin and Steve Womack supported the measure and Democrat Mike Ross opposed it.

The impasse over a longer-term measure stems from partisan differences over how to best address a highway trust fund that has dwindled because of the increase in fuel-efficient cars and divisions among House Republicans over legislation that has in the past cleared Congress with bipartisan support.

This month, the Senate easily passed a bipartisan bill that would have funded the program for two years at a cost of $109 billion.

The House Transportation Committee passed its own version this year, a five-year, $260 billion measure that would have been paid for in part with revenue from new drilling projects, including a proposal to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

But Republicans never took the measure to the House floor because some party members thought the price tag was too high, others were unhappy with the removal of dedicated funds for public transportation and others still did not like the drilling component.

Stymied House Republicans, unwilling to take up the Senate measure, which Speaker John Boehner said was not paid for in a way Republicans could accept, instead went with the short-term bill.

Democrats seemed skeptical that a long-term measure could be passed this year.

“The Republicans cannot even bring their own transportation bill to the floor and pass it,” said Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D- Calif., the minority leader, on the House floor. “Their own transportation bill is not a good bill, but at least it would take us to conference.”

Republicans have generally been loath to pass short-term bills — they balked loudly at a short-term payroll tax holiday measure last year, citing uncertainty that short-term bills sow — but made an exception in this case.

“It’s really apples and oranges,” said Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Pa. “This is just so we can continue to do construction while we do a longer bill.”

Information for this article was contributed by Richard Simon of the Los Angeles Times.

Front Section, Pages 3 on 03/30/2012

Upcoming Events