Tossing in his cards, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar is preparing legislation transferring $7.3 billion from general federal funds to the highway trust fund, in recognition of the plain fact that the legislative agenda in Washington D.C. will be consumed by health care reform and climate change bills, leaving no room for debate on the funding mechanism for Oberstar's proposed 6 year, $500 billion highway trust fund reauthorization before the end of this fiscal year, when the current legislation expires.
While Speaker Nancy Pelosi has stated that a long term highway reauthorization would be "a great jobs bill," leadership has recognized that time for debating other major issues in Congress will leave little time for the detailed work needed to bring a new 6 year reauthorization to the floor of both houses.
Meanwhile, criticism of the stimulus infrastructure spending already approved in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is growing. A study released July 9 by the New York Times shows that the 100 largest metropolitan areas, where two thirds of the population lives and three fourths of the nation's economic activity takes place, are receiving less than half of federal stimulus dollars for road and bridge construction. According to Owen D. Gutfreund at City University of New York, "We have a long history of shortchanging cities and metropolitan areas and allocating transportation money to places where few people live."
While Speaker Nancy Pelosi has stated that a long term highway reauthorization would be "a great jobs bill," leadership has recognized that time for debating other major issues in Congress will leave little time for the detailed work needed to bring a new 6 year reauthorization to the floor of both houses.
Meanwhile, criticism of the stimulus infrastructure spending already approved in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is growing. A study released July 9 by the New York Times shows that the 100 largest metropolitan areas, where two thirds of the population lives and three fourths of the nation's economic activity takes place, are receiving less than half of federal stimulus dollars for road and bridge construction. According to Owen D. Gutfreund at City University of New York, "We have a long history of shortchanging cities and metropolitan areas and allocating transportation money to places where few people live."
