A federal transportation bill that includes a ban on funding for the Bush administration’s cross-border trucking program cleared the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday, Nov. 14. A vote by the U.S. Senate, which is expected to pass the same bill, likely won’t happen until after the Thanksgiving holidays.
While approved 270-147 by the House, H.R. 3074’s future is in doubt. President Bush has threatened to veto the $105.6 billion package, and Wednesday’s vote fell eight short of the number needed for an override. Bush says the bill spends about $5.5 billion more than a version submitted by the White House.
The fiscal 2008 transportation spending bill was approved by a House-Senate conference committee on Nov. 8. The committee’s version retained language that would block funding for the Department of Transportation’s pilot program allowing long-haul trucking across the U.S.-Mexico border.
DOT spokesman Brian Turmail told CCJ on Nov. 9 that Transportation Secretary Mary Peters regretted the House-Senate conference committee’s decision to retain the funding ban, but that she isn’t giving up on the cross-border program until a prohibition becomes law.
The committee’s version of the transportation bill also retained language that would prohibit interstate tolling in Texas. The amendment was introduced to the Senate’s version of the bill by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, and was kept in the final version.
The bill also contains $1 billion to address deficient bridges across America – accepting an amendment by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., for a 25 percent boost to bridge funding – following the Aug. 1 collapse of the Interstate 35-West bridge in Minneapolis, which killed 13 people and injured more than 100. H.R. 3074 also specifies a separate $195 million for a new I-35W bridge across the Mississippi River.
The 25 percent increase in bridge funding, however, would still lag behind the pace of spending contemplated in legislation (H.R. 3999) sponsored by House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairmain James Oberstar. Oberstar’s plan is to invest $25 billion in bridge repairs, to be paid for with a 5-cent-per-gallon increase in the federal fuel tax.
