Congress Approves TEA 21 Extension Legislation
September 26, 2003
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Legislation passed the House on September 24 and the Senate on September
26 to extend federal transit and highway programs authorized under TEA 21
for five months, through February 29, 2004. The bill is expected to be sent
to the President quickly for his anticipated approval so that the extension
will take effect before TEA 21 expires on September 30. Funding over the five-month
period would be authorized on a pro-rata basis (5/12ths), using the funding
levels established in the FY 2004 Congressional Budget Resolution. The table
below shows the funding levels in the bill:
|
Program |
Guaranteed Authorization FY 2003 |
House/Senate 5-Month Reauthorization Extension |
|
(Millions) |
(Millions) |
|
Total All Programs |
7,226.0 |
3,042.5 |
|
Formula Total |
3,839.0 |
1,616.4 |
|
UZA and Rural Formula |
3,686.6 |
1,552.5 |
|
Elderly and Disabled |
90.7 |
38.2 |
|
Clean Fuels |
50.0 |
20.8 |
|
Alaska Railroad |
4.9 |
2.0 |
|
Rural Transportation Accessibility |
7.0 |
2.9 |
|
Capital Investment |
3,036.0 |
1,278.3 |
|
New Starts |
1,214.4 |
511.3 |
|
Fixed-Guideway Modernization |
1,214.4 |
511.3 |
|
Bus and Bus Facilities |
607.2 |
255.7 |
|
Planning |
73.0 |
30.7 |
|
Research |
49.0 |
20.6 |
|
Job Access and Reverse Commute |
150.0 |
63.2 |
|
University Centers |
6.0 |
2.5 |
|
FTA Operations |
73.0 |
30.7 |
|
Obligation Ceiling |
7,226.0 |
3,042.5 |
The Senate Banking Committee and the Environment and Public Works Committee marked up their respective titles of the six-month extension on Tuesday, September 23. The House Transportation and Infrastructure sent its version straight to the House floor. The House was expected to pass the bill on September 23, however a disagreement with the Senate over changes to the federal tax on ethanol and a provision allowing states to continue highway projects until June 1 using prior-year unobligated funds in the absence of a reauthorization bill delayed action by a day. An agreement was reached to maintain current law on the ethanol tax and to strike the highway provision, paving the way for action in both chambers. The compromise allowed the House and Senate to pass identical bills, avoiding the need for a Conference Committee.
The bill does not make changes to current law or the transit program structure under TEA 21, but simply provides a temporary extension of current law in order to provide Congress with more time to consider passage of a comprehensive reauthorization of TEA 21.
Outlook for Long-Term Reauthorization
While Congress passed a five-month extension of TEA 21 September 26 to provide time to pass a long-term reauthorization bill, there is still no agreement on how to pay for the increased investment proposed by authorizing committees in both the House and Senate. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is continuing to work on a $375 billion six-year transit and highway bill. Senate authorizers continue to craft a six-year transit and highway bill that would follow the Senate-passed Budget Resolution levels of $311.5 billion. The Administration has proposed a six-year, $247 billion bill. Among the proposals being considered to pay for increased investment are indexing or increasing the current motor fuels taxes, and creation of a transportation finance corporation that would issue bonds that carry either tax credits or interest.
Transportation Appropriations Bill Advances
House of Representatives
The House of Representatives on September 9 passed its version of the FY 2004 Transportation-Treasury Appropriations Bill. The bill, H.R. 2989, sets funding for the federal transit program at $7.23 billion in FY 2004. It funds Amtrak at $900 million. Several changes to current law proposed in the committee-passed version of the bill were removed on the House Floor, including provisions related to the Transportation Enhancements program and Buy America.
Senate
The Senate is expected to take up its version of the bill, S. 1589, during the next few weeks. The bill approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee would fund the federal transit program at $7.305 billion. Amtrak would be funded at $1.34 billion. Please see APTA’s September 5, 2003 Legislative Update for more information on House and Senate Appropriations bills.
Outlook on FY 2004 Transportation Appropriations/Continuing Resolution Action
The Senate is not expected to consider the FY 2004 Transportation Appropriations bill before the end of the fiscal year on September 30. The delay in moving the bill on the Senate Floor is unrelated to transportation issues, and instead centers on provisions in the Treasury title of the measure relating to restrictions on travel to Cuba and the contracting out of federal work.
In the meantime, the House and Senate have passed a continuing resolution effective until October 31, 2003, which the President has indicated he will sign. FTA is not expected to publish the five-twelfths apportionments under the short-term extension legislation until a longer-term FY 2004 appropriation is enacted.
APTA will urge members of the Conference Committee on the FY 2004 Transportation Appropriations bills, once appointed, to support the highest funding level possible for the transit program and to advocate for provisions beneficial to the transit industry.
Relationship Between FY 2004 Transportation Appropriations and the Short-Term Extension of TEA 21
As the foregoing indicates, at some point there likely will be both a regular FY 2004 Transportation Appropriations Act and the five-month TEA 21 extension bill in effect. How will these two bills be administered and reconciled? Congressional staff indicate that Trust Fund resources will remain subject to the five-month reauthorization bill, and can only be made available for that length of time. Thus FTA would only be able to allocate five-twelfths of the total Trust Fund resources until such time as a longer-term authorization is adopted next year. APTA is working with Congress to try to minimize any administrative burdens that could arise from implementation of the short-term TEA 21 extension bill.
Homeland Security
On September 24, the House and Senate passed the conference report to the FY 2004 Homeland Security spending bill (108-280). The bill now goes to the President for his signature before the end of the fiscal year on September 30. APTA was successful in getting the conferees to clarify that transit authorities are eligible as local governments to apply for Office for Domestic Preparedness (ODP) funding to the states. This funding includes $1.7 billion for formula-based grants to states, $500 million for law enforcement terrorism prevention grants to states, and $725 million for the high-threat, high-density urban areas grants program. Transit authorities should be working with their states to apply for these monies for transit security. Earlier this spring, Secretary Ridge earmarked $65 million from the urban areas grants program to the 20 transit authorities with the largest ridership for transit security.
On September 5, APTA sent a letter to members of the Conference Committee urging the conferees to agree to Senate language clarifying that ODP make transit authorities eligible as local governments under ODP programs. As mentioned, this language was agreed to. The letter to the conferees is available on the Government Affairs section of www.apta.com.
For More Information
Visit the Government Affairs section of the APTA website at www.apta.com, or contact Rob Healy at (202) 496-4811 or Josh Fudge at (202) 496-4810. For Homeland Security issues, please contact Tom Yedinak at (202) 496-4865.
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