APTA: Transportation impacts varied by debt deal

President Obama signed legislation on Aug. 2 to raise the nation's debt limit, following the implementation of the Budget Control Act passed by the House on Aug. 1. An initial analysis of the Act by the American Public Transportation Association reveals no specific impact on transportation accounts or the Highway Trust Fund/Mass Transit Account. Spending authority from the HTF/MTA is treated as mandatory spending, and thus not subject to the discretionary spending caps set forth in the Act. The Act does not provide for any additional revenues, to any federal accounts and thus does nothing to ensure the solvency of the HTF/MTA. As a result, the scenario facing House and Senate Transportation Authorizing committees remains unchanged. It is expected that House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman John Mica will continue to proceed with his six-year bill at revenue-constrained funding levels. While the leadership of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW), which has jurisdiction over the federal highway program, has proposed a two-year authorization bill that funds transit and highway programs at current levels, it is not clear how the Act will affect efforts to raise the estimated $12 billion needed to fund that bill. The APTA is suggesting its members contact their congressional delegations during the August district work period to urge a surface transportation authorization bill in September. This may help preserve current levels of funding for transit and highway programs and possibly provide funding for a six-year, multimodal surface transportation authorization bill. Despite initial plans of the EPW committee to hold a hearing on its two-year surface transportation authorization proposal, action was put on hold in light of the debt limit debate and no further action will occur until congress returns in September. The date for markup of the bill remains fluid as Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), the EPW committee-ranking member, has expressed opposition to moving forward without the financing for the bill in place. Currently, the two-year proposal needs approximately $12 billion over two years to fund the bill at proposed levels as discussed in this previous legislative alert. Once EPW moves forward, it is expected that the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, which has jurisdiction over transit and the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, which has jurisdiction over rail and safety programs, will release their respective titles shortly thereafter.