House Transportation Committee Chairman James Oberstar announced during the congressional recess this week that he expects his committee to complete work on a five year surface transportation reauthorization bill by the end of June, so the legislation can reach the Oval Office by the end of this fiscal year. The last such legislation, passed in 2005, appropriated $286 billion, with 8.4% of that amount devoted to Congressional earmark projects.
Oberstar expects the bill coming out of his committee will be appropriate in the neighborhood of $450 billion, and earmark requests for 33.2% of that total have already been submitted, though it is not at all clear they will all end up in the legislation.
Democrats want the legislative measure to give a larger portion of the cash for public transit projects and less for highway construction than past measures have provided. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Chairman Jay Rockefeller and Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey are all pushing for the final bill to favor public transportation and reduce individual car miles driven, though no debate on any reauthorization measure has even been posted on the Senate schedule as yet.
Oberstar expects the bill coming out of his committee will be appropriate in the neighborhood of $450 billion, and earmark requests for 33.2% of that total have already been submitted, though it is not at all clear they will all end up in the legislation.
Democrats want the legislative measure to give a larger portion of the cash for public transit projects and less for highway construction than past measures have provided. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Chairman Jay Rockefeller and Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey are all pushing for the final bill to favor public transportation and reduce individual car miles driven, though no debate on any reauthorization measure has even been posted on the Senate schedule as yet.
