House Passes Reauthorization Bill!
April 2, 2004
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By a vote of 357-65 the House today passed its TEA 21 reauthorization
bill, The Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (TEA LU) (H.R. 3550).
The bill would provide $275 billion over six years, with $51.5 billion in
guaranteed funding for the transit program. Before passing the bill, the House
defeated by a party-line vote of 225-198 a procedural effort to raise the
bill's funding level to $318 billion.
The bill is similar to the measure marked up by the House Transportation
and Infrastructure Committee last week, which is summarized in APTA's March
29 Legislative Update which may be viewed at the Government Affairs section
of the APTA website at www.apta.com. During floor debate a few amendments
were adopted that affect the transit program. Most significantly, Representative
LaTourette (R-OH) offered a Buy America amendment that passed; it essentially
would apply the existing Buy America rolling stock standard to manufactured
products, including both the 60 percent/40 percent and subcomponent requirements.
In addition, the permanent regulatory waiver for microcomputer equipment and
the general regulatory waivers for Chrysler vans would be repealed. There
are no similar Buy America provisions in the Senate bill. Further, report
language accompanying the bill directs FTA to undertake a charter bus rulemaking
to consider whether there are limited conditions in which transit agencies
could provide community-based charter services to local governments and non-profit
agencies that would not otherwise be served in a cost-effective manner by
private operators, and whether there are ways to improve the enforcement and
administration of the regulation.
The next step is for the House and Senate bills to be considered by a conference
committee to resolve differences in the measures. The Senate bill provides
$318 billion over six years, with $56.5 billion for transit. The White House
has indicated it would veto a bill with a funding level higher than $256 billion.
The leaders of the key Senate committees continue to be supportive of their
$318 billion funding level, but indications are that the House and Senate
majority leadership are reluctant to pass a bill that the White House would
veto. The House now goes on a two-week recess, and the Senate goes on a one-week
recess the following week. Both will return the week of April 19. The existing
short-term extension of TEA 21 expires April 30. To keep the pressure on getting
the six-year bill through the conference as quickly as possible, there is
some discussion that the Senate may not support any further short-term extension
of TEA 21.
Visit the Government Affairs section of the APTA website at
www.apta.com under "Reports and Alerts" to view a side-by-side comparison
of the House and Senate bills. For more information, please contact APTA's
Rob Healy at (202) 496-4811 or rhealy@apta.com.
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